The Democratic Party (DP) suggests that the five new Legislative Council (LegCo) seats from the District Council sector ought to be chosen by what is now being called the "one man, two votes" principle.

The party suggests the new seats, proposed in the government's 2012 reform package, as well as the existing seats from the same sector, be selected from among candidates nominated by members of the sector, then elected by voters who are not eligible to vote in functional constituency elections.

The DP claims that only through such an arrangement would the "universal and equal" principle be fulfilled, and that allowing elected district councillors (DCs) to choose the six new LegCo members among themselves would violate the modern principle of universal suffrage.

I was deeply shocked by the party's view on this issue. Election of LegCo members from among elected DCs itself is an indirect election, which, according to general knowledge in modern politics, is one of the two kinds of elections in which universal suffrage could be applied. One is direct elections and the other indirect elections. Nowadays, democratic countries often adopt both. While some may compare the pros and cons of the two, no one would question whether indirect elections comply with the principle of universal suffrage.

In the US, House members and Senators are directly elected, but the presidential election is an indirect election in which voters actually choose electors who in turn elect the president and vice president.

The same system is found in Finland's presidential election.

In Italy, the parliament has its Chamber of Deputies and Senate of the Republic chosen by direct elections, but the president is elected through indirect election. So are the presidents of Germany, Greece, Israel and India.

As far as France is concerned, members of the National Assembly are elected by direct vote, while those of the Senate are indirectly elected. Among the 321 Senators, 304 are returned to serve a term of six years, by an electoral college.

From these facts we can see that very often both direct and indirect elections are employed in developed democratic countries around the world. That both are democratic elections in compliance with the "universal and equal" principle is beyond any reasonable doubt.

Such being the case, the part of the government's electoral reform package that concerns the election of the six LegCo members from the District Council sector is in full compliance with the indirect election principles of modern universal suffrage and would be an early realization of universal suffrage in this sector.

The DP's "one man, two votes" proposal, on the other hand, would change the geographical constituency direct election system to one that encompasses the entire territory. It has no legal basis, no precedent in local history, and no example is to be found anywhere else in the world. I don't know whether party members are ignorant or just taking advantage of the "pan-democrats'" 60:40 percent voting advantage to land an additional seat in LegCo.

If that is the case, the move echoes the saying that "prejudice is farther away from truth than ignorance."

(HK Edition 06/15/2010 page1)