HONG KONG // Hong Kong lawmakers laid bare the city’s entrenched political divide on Wednesday as they locked horns over a reform package ahead of a key vote that pit democracy campaigners against the government.
Their debate on the Beijing-backed electoral roadmap will end in a vote later this week, marking the culmination of a fraught chapter which saw tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets last year.
Pro-democracy lawmakers are widely expected to unite against the bill, denying it the two thirds majority it needs to pass.
But few in the opposition camp say that will be a victory as they are bitterly disappointed not to have won any concessions.
Although the Hong Kong government’s plan would for the first time give all residents the right to vote for the chief executive in 2017, it adheres to a Beijing ruling that candidates must be vetted by a loyalist committee.
The proposal is derided as “fake democracy” by opposition lawmakers and campaigners.
Authorities in semi-autonomous Hong Kong have said repeatedly they cannot diverge from Beijing’s ruling last August, which sparked weeks of mass rallies and road blockades that brought parts of the city to a standstill.
A front-page editorial in China’s People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, urged lawmakers Wednesday to pass the bill, saying “social chaos” could ensue otherwise.
Hong Kong’s deputy leader Carrie Lam warned any reforms would be off the table if the package was blocked as she kicked off the debate on Wednesday afternoon.
“This administration cannot re-launch the [reform] process ... political development will inevitably come to a standstill,” she said.
Pro-Beijing lawmaker Regina Ip, a former security minister, said rejecting the package would be “a great loss”.
But pan-democrats criticised Beijing’s plan.
“Let us show the world that we are not fools. We will not buy into such delusions for the sake of a quiet life,” said Civic Party lawmaker Claudia Mo.
Ms Mo said accepting the proposal in the hope that Beijing would later soften its stance was like “pocketing a maggoty apple”.
Political analyst Sonny Lo called the vote “a critical juncture” and said the bill was unlikely to pass due to the pan-democrats’ pledge.
That paves the way for a further schism between Hong Kong and Beijing, he said.
The atmosphere remained calm outside the legislature on Wednesday evening where around 200 protesters from both sides gathered as the debate was played on loudspeakers.
Hong Kong is largely self-governing after being handed back to China by Britain in 1997 and enjoys much greater freedoms than on the mainland, but there are fears that these are being eroded.
* Agence France-Presse
