NDI delegation visits Hong Kong in November 2010 and Promise of Democratization Report 14

From 1 – 4 November 2010, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) sent a team to Hong Kong to assess the political environment leading up to and following the passage of the political reform package.

The NDI team included:

·         Suzanne Wood, Former President of the New Zealand National Party;

·         Thomas Barry, NDI Deputy Regional Director for Asia programs;

·         Jennifer Hopfensperger, Program Officer NDI DC;

·         Belinda Winterbourne, NDI Resident Senior Program Manager for Hong Kong; 

·         Stephen Tong, NDI Program Officer for Hong Kong.

Among others, the team met with current and former government officials; political party leaders; Legislative Council members and candidates; District Councilors; nongovernmental organization representatives; academics; journalists; and diplomats.

Promise of Democratization Report 14

The findings of this delegation were documented in:

·         The Promise of Democratization in Hong Kong: Taking Stock - Passage of the Political Reform Package. NDI Hong Kong Report No. 14. November 2010¹.

For further information, please contact:

·         Marjan Ehsassi, Program Manager, Asia;

·         Belinda Winterbourne, Resident Senior Program Manager.

Key findings of the report

The following are the key findings in this report:

By-Election/DeFacto Civil Referendum

The League of Social Democrats (LSD) … were the first to propose a “de-facto referendum” whereby a democratic legislator would resign from each constituency, forcing a by-election.

This did not gain widespread support initially from within the pan-democratic camp, which feared it could detract from the universal suffrage issue.

Ultimately, the Civic Party decided to participate in the resignation plan while the Democratic Party had refused to employ this strategy (Page 7).

Although there were initial concerns that there may not be a contested election, a five member youth group, Tertiary 2012, also joined to ensure a contested election (Page 8).

Advice from Professor Michael DeGolyer

Michael DeGolyer, Director of the Hong Kong Transition Project, suggested that the pan-democrats should seize this opportunity to propose candidates for all five seats and develop a common theme such that people would be voting for ideals and an ideology rather than personalities (Page 11).

Hong Kong Transition Project survey

In a survey by the Hong Kong Transition Project, conducted in October 2009, 72% of 160 respondents aged 18 to 29 believed the government made policies unfairly favoring the interests of some over others. Survey findings also showed dissatisfaction with the CE’s handling of constitutional reform to be high across all groups but highest among those under 30 years of age (Page 11).

SynergyNet Review

According to the SynergyNet’s 2010 CE Review commissioned by NDI, the governance crisis faced by the CE stems from structural problems including a legitimacy deficit, a fragile governing coalition and a lack of institutionalized communication channels between the executive and legislature (Page 18).

SynergyNet suggested in the short-term that the government institutionalize a negotiation mechanism between the executive and the legislature and reform advisory committee structures. In the long-term, the government should increase the pace of constitutional reform and further develop party politics (Page 18).

Comments by Chairman of the Basic Law Institute

Alan Hoo, Chairman of the Basic Law Institute, referred to Article 31 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which states that:

 “The state may establish special administrative regions when necessary. The systems to be instituted in special administrative regions shall be prescribed by law enacted by the NPC in light of the specific conditions.”

Mr. Hoo additionally noted that requesting a plan for universal suffrage would contravene the principle of gradual and orderly progress, as established in Article 45 of the Basic Law (Page 18).

Reference 

¹The Promise of Democratization in Hong Kong: Taking Stock - Passage of the Political Reform Package. NDI Hong Kong Report No. 14. November 2010 Link to all Promise of Democratization Reports