HONG KONG: The legitimacy and effectiveness of the so-called "referendum campaign in five geographical constituencies" raised by two opposition parties have been called into question by scholars and politicians.

Cheung Bing-leung, member of the Executive Council, stated the resignation of the lawmakers of the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats cannot solve the current problem. "Even if they can be returned by by-elections, they still need to reach a consensus on constitutional development," he said.

Executive Council Convenor Leung Chun-ying also said that the government will arrange by-elections after the lawmakers' resignations, but will not construe them as a "referendum". The referendum system does not exist in Hong Kong, he added.

The legitimacy of the so-called "referendum" has also been questioned in academic circles.

"It does not meet the elements of the definition of 'referendum'. Besides, there is no mentioning of referendum in Hong Kong's Basic Law at all," said Zhu Guobin, associate professor of the School of Law at the City University.

"It is just by-elections in the five districts," Zhu said. "I believe it is a political tactic using this word to confuse people and make their action appear to have legitimacy," he said.

"The by-election is to elect a person, but a referendum is to vote for a single proposition," said Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, to explain the difference between "referendum" and "by-election". Leung is a barrister, an associate professor of Law, and also a legislator.

"The extreme action (resignation of lawmakers) will reduce the chance of negotiations on constitutional development. It's no good for Hong Kong's democracy," she said.

The effectiveness and result of the resignation plan has also been doubted.

Denny Ho Kwok-leung, associate professor of the Department of Applied Social Science at the Polytechnic University, is not optimistic about the likely result of the by-elections. "The possible result may be that only three of the five (lawmakers) could return," he estimated. He estimated that legislators Chan Wai-yip and Leung Kwok-hung may have a great chance to lose in the by-elections if they run.

"In fact, their action barely has any impact on Hong Kong's constitution, but may only cause the two parties to lose two seats," Ho noted.

Ho does not think the so-called "referendum campaign" is a smart idea. "Any person with political judgment can tell it is a bad arrangement," he said. He indicated the opposition camp can hardly explain their idea to the public by distributing leaflets.

"It can easily make people take views opposite to theirs," he added.

Five lawmakers from the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats announced on Monday that they will resign their seats from the Legislative Council on January 27, in an attempt to force a "referendum".

The SAR government said the resignation is "unnecessary", as the two parties have ignored the mainstream view of society, which has been opposed to such an action.

"It will only obstruct the community's focusing on the discussion of how to further democratize the electoral system in 2012, and not be conducive to forging a consensus within the community," said a government spokesman in response to the two opposition parties' announcement.

(HK Edition 01/13/2010 page1)