CE: Electoral Reform Can Help Patriotic Pan-dems Win

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that pro-democracy politicians will see their chances of winning office increase after Beijing approved sweeping reforms of the SAR's political system – as long as they prove themselves to be patriots.

She was speaking to CGTN, the international arm of state broadcaster CCTV, in her first major interview since the national legislature voted on Thursday to expand the size of Legco and the election committee that selects the chief executive, while also adding candidate vetting requirements.

"Hong Kong is a very free and diverse society, we welcome people with different political positions and different views about the best system to serve Hong Kong... there is absolutely no intention to undermine the system of Hong Kong and dilute this diversity and freedoms in Hong Kong," she said.

"If we have the same number of so-called pro-democratic persons in Hong Kong, as long as all these people are able to meet the standards of a patriot, then they now have more opportunities to take part in [an] election and win an election."

She added that patriotism was a basic requirement anywhere for people to take government office.

"Asking for somebody to be in a governing position to be patriotic is really not a high standard. It is really the basic of anybody who wants to have a role in the governance of a place."

Mrs Lam said the electoral reform will bring Hong Kong "back to the right track" in terms of political structure, which is in line with the One Country, Two Systems principle.