Beijing can't afford a slip in HK

NPC Standing Committee rules out 'civil nomination' for chief executive in 2017 election in special administrative region

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has categorically framed the method for the election of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's chief executive (CE) in 2017 through universal suffrage. The NPC Standing Committee's decision on Aug 31 rules out the opposition's demand of "civil nomination" and "three-track proposal", and clearly says that the nominating committee alone is authorized to choose two or three CE candidates who win more than half of the nominating committee members' votes. This dashes the opposition's dream of "genuine universal suffrage".

Some local commentators, however, have criticized the NPC Standing Committee's decision for being too stringent to match Hong Kong's political spectrum.