Hong Kong's draft election law gives little ground to protesters' demands

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/22/hong-kong-draft-election-law-unveil-beijing

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Hong Kong’s government has unveiled its proposed reforms to how the city chooses its leader – a project that spurred pro-democracy “umbrella protests” when guidelines were announced last year.

The draft election law, as expected, follows closely an outline drawn up in Beijing last summer by China’s parliament.

It allows over 5 million eligible voters to cast a ballot for their leader in a 2017 election, a measure Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing government argues offers the universal suffrage promised by the city’s mini-constitution.

However, all would-be contenders must be vetted by a 1,200-member panel widely viewed as sympathetic to Beijing, and only two or three will be allowed to contest the election, prompting opposition politicians and activists to denounce the system as “fake democracy”.

Related: Hong Kong’s umbrella revolution - the Guardian briefing

The Occupy Central movement channelled anger about the plan into huge public demonstrations that lasted nearly three months last year and became one of the greatest challenges to Beijing’s rule in Hong Kong since Britain handed control of the city to China in 1997.

The protests largely petered out in December, but now the draft bill has been released activists say they are planning new protests, and opposition politicians have pledged to rally public opinion against it.

“Those minor adjustments raised by the government are totally useless,” said teenage leader Joshua Wong, who became the most famous face of last year’s demonstrations. “We hope to have the freedom to choose rather than just get the right to elect some of the candidates.” The 18-year-old said his Scholarism group was planning demonstrations on Saturday in areas where government officials would be canvassing for support, the Associated Press reported.

Opposition democrats have already vowed to veto the plan when it is put to a vote this summer, and hold a one-third bloc of seats that would allow them to keep it from becoming law.

A group of lawmakers wearing black shirts with yellow crosses walked out of the city’s legislative council after the government unveiled the draft law. Some carried umbrellas, which became a symbol of the pro-democracy movement over months of protest last year.

The city’s current chief executive, Leung Chun-Ying, said he was hopeful a handful of democrats could be persuaded to change their minds ahead of the summer vote, which would be enough to pass the law. Tempering optimism with warnings, he also said that if the opposition sank the bill it would be years before Hong Kong got another shot at moving towards a more democratic rule.

“Launching political reform is not easy,” said Leung, who was hand-picked for the job by the elite panel that would vet new candidates. “If it’s vetoed this time, I believe it will be a number of years before we can launch it again.”

Hundreds of protesters waving Chinese flags gathered outside the Legislative Council to back the plan, calling it progress for the city. They faced a smaller group with yellow umbrellas, who demanded “true universal suffrage” and the resignation of Leung, who is deeply unpopular in Hong Kong.

The city is ruled by China under a “one country, two systems” model that allows it a different legal system and its people more political rights than mainlanders enjoy.