demanded by the pan-democrats, and the reduction in size of the Election
Committee responsible for the election of the chief executive. This time the
pan-democrats split among themselves. The more radical faction insisted on
the abolition of functional constituency election in 2012 , and attempted to force a
de facto referendum with a few directly elected members resigning from the
Legislative Council and successfully getting re-elected in a by-election on a
single-issue platform of direct election of both the chief executive and the Legisla-
tive Council in 2012 – a controversial move which antagonised the central govern-
ment. The moderate faction preferred to conciliate with a hope to enter into a
more constructive dialogue with the central government on the details of imple-
menting the NPCSC’s decision in 2009. With the support of the moderate faction,
the proposal was able to secure the necessary majority at the Legislative Council.
While the road map to full democracy has been drawn, there are still a number
of unsettled issues. As far as the chief executive is concerned, the NPCSC has
decided that the chief executive will be returned by universal suffrage in 2017. The
challenge for the central government is how far it is prepared to tolerate a genuine
election where the outcome will be unpredictable. The only way to ensure a
predictable result is to impose restrictions on the nomination process so that only
candidates acceptable to Beijing pass through it. The details of the nomination
process are still to be worked out. As far as the Legislative Council is concerned, the
central government has not committed itself to a definite date for direct election,
save that this could not happen before the direct election of the chief executive in
- At present half of the Legislative Council is returned by functional constitu-
ency election. Debates are still ongoing as to whether functional constituency
election is consistent with election by universal suffrage, and whether there are
ways to preserve functional constituency election such as having a system of two
votes for every eligible elector. Apart from the vested interests of the functional
constituencies to prolong their influence in the political process, any reform is
plagued by deep-seated mutual suspicion between the central government and the
pan-democrats, even when the moderate faction of the pan-democrats have taken
the initiative to attempt to mend the relationship.
v. reflections on the future
Hong Kong was promised a high degree of autonomy. This chapter has attempted
to analyse this promise in light of central–local relationships, internal autonomy on
protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, and development of representative
government. On the whole, in the last fifteen years, this promise has by and large
been fulfilled. There is little interference from the Central Government in relation
to the internal affairs of Hong Kong, save in the area of democratic development.
Fundamental rights and freedoms are upheld. Independence of the judiciary has
been maintained, and the courts have lived up to the expectation of being liberal