Hong Kong lawmakers approved a bill to amend elections for the Chief Executive (CE) and Legislative Council (LegCo) on Wednesday.

The Chief Executive Election and Legislative Council Election (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2006 was passed by 31-21 votes, with one abstention, in the LegCo.

The bill subjects a CE candidate, even he/she is the lone contestant in the election, to a vote of confidence in the Election Committee (EC) before being declared elected.

The next CE election is scheduled for March 25, 2007.

A fresh election will be held if the candidate fails to win more than half of the valid EC votes. The candidate has to face the EC trust vote again if the second election is uncontested too. The process will be repeated until the sole candidate wins the EC trust vote.

The bill was supported by Democratic Alliance for Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and Liberal Party lawmakers. Both parties said the bill could improve the polling method for the elections.

Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers opposed the bill, saying the amendments would not enhance the chief executive's mandate. Speaking during the second reading of the bill, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam said the community had backed the bill, and he hoped that DP legislators would try to gauge the mainstream view.

Lam criticized those legislators who attacked the bill for backtracking on their words. They had supported the part on the confidence vote in a CE election before but reversed their decision in the LegCo debate yesterday, Lam said.

Some legislators suggested capping the number of candidates in a CE election. But Lam argued that such a limitation would hinder EC members' rights of nominating candidates.

Reiterating that the government did not agree to the suggestion of evoking the provision prohibiting a CE from being affiliated to a political party, he said it could ensure that a CE would keep in mind the greater good of society while discharging his duties.

The government is contemplating further development of the system of political appointment, he said.

The most important task after the passage of the bill was to elect EC members in December, Lam said.