The Chief Executive Election A Sham

19 February 2002

"By obtaining the nomination of over 700 out of the 800 members of the Election Committee who are to elect the HKSAR's next Chief Executive, Mr. Tung Chee-hwa is not underscoring his "popularity". Quite the contrary, he gives the perfect illustration of what a sham the second Chief Executive election is -- and what a sham Mr. Tung turns it into." Democratic Party Chairman Mr. Martin Lee commented.

"In the guise of making the nomination process more transparent, the Tung administration
proposed an election bill that will require the publication of the names of members of the
Election Committee who nominate a candidate to stand for the second Chief Executive election.By this, the nomination process is effectively turned into an open ballot. Who will turn down the request for nomination from a candidate who cannot lose? Who will be willing to risk future business or career prospects?"

"More farcically, Mr. Tung has to rein in over 700 nominations, so that no one will be able to obtain the minimum required number of nominations from members of the Election Committee (which is 100) to stand against him for the election. Being the only valid candidate, there will not be even a vote of confidence by the Election Committee. Mr. Tung can avoid all the embarrassing questions relating to his governance in his first term of office."

"A Baptist University poll indicated that only 16 per cent of respondents supported Mr. Tung for a second term, while 56 per cent were against. Is Mr. Tung even aware of the paradox that the more nominations he gets, the more flawed the electoral system is shown up to be?"

The Democratic Party urges the government to adopt universal suffrage for the subsequent elections of the Chief Executive and all members of the Legislative Council and allow the Hong Kong people to choose their own leaders. Without participation of the people, the leaders can claim no mandate.