Hong Kong’s reforms prevent “the dictatorship of the majority,” says the pro-Beijing lawmaker

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s proposal for Hong Kong’s electoral reforms could prevent a “majority dictatorship,” Beijing’s Hong Kong representative Martin Liao said on Saturday.

The Chinese parliament is discussing plans to revise Hong Kong’s electoral system to ensure Beijing’s loyalists are at the helm. Representatives from Hong Kong, in Beijing during an annual session, say change is necessary and desirable.

“A lot of people in Hong Kong are politically immature,” Liao, who participates in both the Hong Kong and Chinese legislatures, said in a telephone interview.

“They believe‘ one man one vote ’is the best, and they receive advice from countries that don’t even have‘ one man one vote, ’” Liao said, referring to the way neither the president of the United States nor the British Prime Minister are elected by popular vote.

The proposed changes, which include expanding the city’s Electoral Committee from 1,200 to 1,500 people and expanding the city’s Legislative Council from 70 to 90 seats, will make Hong Kong’s electoral system more “representative” and less prone to “majority dictatorship,” Liao added.

Critics say Beijing would be able to stack the two bodies with even more supportive members of the establishment, to gain the numerical superiority needed to influence important decisions such as the election of the city’s chief executive, leaving Hong voters Kong a less direct opinion about who they want to lead.

People from new industries and services, such as information technology, telecommunications and health, should be incorporated as additional members of Hong Kong’s electoral collage, said Maria Tam, a senior Hong Kong politician who works with the Chinese parliament on issues related to the Hong Kong mini. -constitution.

It should also include people who can help Hong Kong’s youth take advantage of China’s economic development, such as through the national five-year plan and the plan for the bay area, he told Reuters for phone.

Tam rejected concerns that the reforms, aimed at ensuring that “patriots rule Hong Kong,” will restrict space for the opposition.

“I don’t think it’s just one-color,” he said.

“Anyone who can draw the line between them and those who act against the interests of China and Hong Kong would have no problem running in elections and winning,” he said.

Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s only representative to China’s top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, said separately, “If you are not a patriot, it will be difficult for you to enter.”