The SAR government intends to mount an intense lobby to win the support of all parties for the 2012 electoral reform package, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam said Monday.

As a gesture of good faith, he said, the government has answered the call by the Alliance for Universal Suffrage to allow direct communication with the Central Government.

Lam made his point after the meeting with the Alliance, in the presence of Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang. The Alliance, which holds 15 crucial votes in the legislature, is composed of the more moderate factions of the opposition camp.

The Alliance, however, held the ground it had staked out earlier - that in the absence of major improvements, members will find it hard to support the electoral package. The Alliance wants to maintain a dialogue with the Central Government, pressing its demands for a pledge that there will be universal suffrage in the elections of 2017 and 2020 and that the functional constituencies will be abolished by 2020.

The continued dialogue between the government and the Alliance reflected sincerity on both sides for rational discussion on constitutional development, Lam told a press conference after the meeting.

At the meeting, the government explained that the current government is authorized only to handle electoral reform for 2012. Post-2012 proposals advanced by groups and individuals will be collected and will be passed on to the government that will come to office in 2012.

There is very little room to revise the 2012 packages under the framework of the Basic Law and the National People's Congress Standing Committee decision of December 2007, he admitted, but there is room to adjust the methods of returning the LegCo district council constituency seats and the elected district councilors who will sit on the Election Committee.

"The Alliance must know that the removal of the functional constituencies is a very challenging thing that needs consensus from various sides," Lam said. "I believe the best guarantee for universal suffrage for the election of LegCo members in 2020 is for the Chief Executive elected by universal suffrage in 2017 to deal with the matter because he will be a broadly representative person to handle the task."

Both sides have agreed to meet again in May.

Fung Wai-wah, convener of the Alliance, said he hoped there is room for revising the package but admitted there is little chance.

China Daily

(HK Edition 04/27/2010 page1)