Universal Suffrage
...plement it. It is inappropriate to try changing this decision.” Mr Tung said. “The government will not use the referendum method for constitutional development, and will also not agree to plans by any organisations to organise members of the public and conduct a referendum.” Seemingly his answer did not directly point to the question and was prepared beforehand. Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung, the legislator for the welfare sector who first proposed the referendum idea, said he feared the government would try to block any move to organize a “community referendum”, possibly outlawing the action. It is understood Mr Tung suggested that such an act would be “unconstitutional”. Meanwhile, veteran politician and commentator Allen Lee Peng-fei yesterday cristised the pro-democracy camp for failing to act as a unified force in Legco. Mr Lee accused it of not facing reality, by refusing to accept the decision of the Standing Committee ruling out universal suffrage. He said it should not be pushing for universal suffrage in 2012, a goal supporting by the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong and the Liberal Party. The Hong Kong Policy Research Institute, chaired by Paul Yip Kwok-wah, also supports the introduction of universal suffrage in 2012. It suggested expanding the size of the 800-strong Election Committee to allow wider public participation in selecting the next chief executive in 2007. It recommends picking 200 new members by direct elections and increasing the number of district councilors on the committee to ...