'Election Committee May See Talent Shortage'

Executive Councillor Ronny Tong said on Saturday he’s worried that it will be difficult for the government to quickly recruit hundreds of people with the required talent for the new Election Committee, because many top people in Hong Kong are reluctant to join any government structure for fear of being labelled a supporter of the Communist Party.

The National People’s Congress decided on March 11 to introduce drastic changes to the city’s electoral system, including expanding the Election Committee – which selects the Chief Executive -- from its current 1,200 members to 1,500, and giving it extra powers to nominate and select some lawmakers.

The NPC also expanded Legco from its current 70 to 90 members, with Beijing officials saying that lawmakers selected by the Election Committee will account for a larger share in the legislature than members elected through direct and functional constituency polls.

Speaking on a radio programme, Tong said he believed the central government didn't care too much about the capabilities of the 1,200 Election Committee members in the past, as they only had to elect a new Chief Executive every five years.

But he said, under the new electoral system, the committee would supply most of the lawmakers in Legco, and would likely have a new role in “monitoring” who can take part in Legco, the Chief Executive, and even the district council elections, making it a “super political monitoring body.”

The barrister said that, apart from making sure of the “safety” of the elections as they did in the past, Election Committee members might also be expected to help improve the city’s governance.

“Where can you actually find such a talent pool – we’re talking about hundreds of people – to fill the Election Committee and to change the nature of the committee? I’m a bit worried to be honest.” Tong said.

Tong added that it’s hard to imagine pro-democracy figures being willing to join the committee, saying the pan-dem camp had always been reluctant to join the government or any governance structure.

“This political culture has not only affected their supporters but also the whole of society. It makes people with talent uncertain about joining the government at all levels.”

“No matter if you become an executive councillor, a secretary, or an election committee member, you will be labelled as a supporter of the Communist Party. The Communist Party, in the eyes of these people, is a negative term, and anyone who approaches the Communist Party is also a negative person. I myself am a good example. I have suffered from this,” Tong said.

He said if this political culture didn’t change, it would be difficult to improve the city’s governance even with electoral changes, because only the pro-establishment camp – instead of talent from the whole of society – would be willing to join the government.

Tong also proposed that the 90 Legco seats in future should be allocated equally between those selected by the Election Committee, and those elected through direct and functional constituency polls, saying this could avoid giving others the impression that one sector was more important than the other.

“We must not give the wrong perception to people in Hong Kong, as well as people outside of Hong Kong, that the opinion of Hong Kong people, expressed through directly-elected legislators, is no longer treasured or considered to be important. I think that would be a wrong reaction or creating a wrong perception to the world and to the people of Hong Kong, which at the end of the day may well undermine the integrity of Legco.”

“So my view point is that we should try to preserve as many directly elected seats as possible, in order to maintain a proper balance,” he added.

Meanwhile, speaking on an RTHK programme, FTU lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin said, while he hopes future seats in Legco can be equally distributed between the three divisions, he believes Beijing would prefer giving more seats to the Election Committee in order to implement an “executive-led” system.

The trade unionist said he believed lawmakers selected by the new Election Committee would become the “de facto” ruling party.

Liberal Party leader, Felix Chung, said he was worried that the expanded Legco would have too many “newbies” who didn’t fully understand how Legco and the government worked, adding that it would not be a good thing for Hong Kong if they blindly supported all government bills.