2010 Hong Kong electoral reform

In March 2007, the pan-democrats published their own blueprint, the 'mainstream transitional proposal' drawn up with the support of 21 legislators in accordance with principles of equal and universal suffrage and which they said reflected public opinion.

[6] On a three-day trip to Beijing in late December, Donald Tsang was asked by Chinese Communist Party general secretary Hu Jintao to handle Hong Kong's constitutional reforms 'in an appropriate manner'.

"[13] At a seminar organised by a coalition of Beijing-friendly groups, deputy director of the central government's liaison office, Li Gang said that lawmakers should act bravely and responsibly to reach consensus, and create favourable conditions for realising the universal suffrage timetable.

[15] Constitutional Affairs minister Stephen Lam insists the reform proposal is more democratic than the 2005 package which was voted down by the Legislative Council, and was more likely to advance the city's political system if approved.

"[16] Chief Secretary Henry Tang said the government would consider scrapping appointed district councillors if sufficient opposition lawmakers promise to support the 2012 political reform package.

[19] The Democratic Party condemned the consultation document for failing to bring in dual universal suffrage (for LegCo and for the chief executive elections) by 2012,[20] and again demanded the functional constituencies, which were untouched by the proposal, to be abolished for good.

Believed that Beijing wanted reform in Hong Kong to offset international pressure over the lack of human rights, and to set an example for Taiwan, they abandoned the 'radicals' to their referendum plan.

[26] DAB chairman, Tam Yiu-chung, said that while the proposals could be improved upon, his party supported enlarging the Election Committee to 1,200, and creating five district council functional constituency seats in 2012.

[26] In late April, LegCo president Jasper Tsang increased pressure on pan-democrats, whilst triggering controversy when he indicated his willingness to resign his post to vote for reform proposals.

He said that people would enjoy equal voting rights compatible with the principle of universal suffrage; expert views and sectoral interests would still be represented in a legislature otherwise dominated by career politicians.

She urged the public to refocus on the two methods for selecting the chief executive and electing the legislature in 2012, to forge a consensus on how to move forward in 2012, and lay the foundation for universal suffrage in 2017 and 2020.

They hope to see alignment of chief executive with a political party to facilitate governance, and the CE able to appoint legislators from like-minded groups as principal officials to further cement the link between the administration and the legislature.

Li Gang rejected these demands, on the grounds that enlarging the voter base in such a way would "not be in line with the original intent of the Basic Law", he asked them to soften their stance "for the good of all".

[35] An insider to the negotiations with Beijing revealed that mainland officials said that the Democratic Party must be prepared to drop the 4 June issue if it wanted to maintain a long-term dialogue.

[38] Politician Regina Ip criticised the decision as unnecessarily giving political platform to the leader of a movement which the government has worked hard to condemn (i.e. Audrey Eu and the pan-democrats).

Don't stand still" and "Trust makes our dream come true" urged support for the reform package[42] but were greeted with controversy;[39] a third publicly funded television spot featuring three ExCo members was launched in late May.

Despite the government disclosing ministers' itineraries at short notice, the roadshow was greeted the destinations by students, activists and pan-democratic supporters who had gathered to show their opposition and to demand abolition of functional constituencies.

Attendees at the rally included Donald Tsang, Liberal Party leader, Miriam Lau, DAB chairman Tam Yiu-chung and Executive Council convenor Leung Chun-ying.

The FTU, which expects 20,000 to join the rally, said it had been "negligent" in failing to issue a guideline to affiliated organisations, but reiterated the alliance would not accept handing out cash to participants.

[53] Schools were also the subject of controversy when it was revealed that the MFBM Chan Lui Chung Tak Memorial College in Tin Shui Wai tried to force its students to attend the rally by making it part of the curriculum for which academic credit would be awarded.

[54] Teaching staff at the Federation of Education Workers Wong Cho Bau Secondary School in Tung Chung complained to the media that the principal declared participation in the march "an [compulsory] extra-professional development activity" aimed to provide teachers with an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the political situation.

[55] The one-hour televised debate between Audrey Eu and Donald Tsang duly took place at 18:35 on 17 June at the Central Government Offices with only a TV audience as planned.

He reiterated that there was little room, if any, for more changes since the government had already "pushed to the limit" its authority to reform the political structure arising from a 2007 decision by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

[63] Police leave has been cancelled between 22 and 24 June, ready to deploy in anticipation of mass demonstrations on the scale of the Opposition to the Guangzhou-Hong Kong Express Rail Link in November 2009.

The South China Morning Post revealed that Donald Tsang had written a letter the previous week to Xi Jinping, Politburo Standing Committee member and Vice-president in charge of Hong Kong affairs, requesting Beijing's endorsement.

[73] In introducing a motion to delay the vote for two weeks, proposer Cyd Ho (Civic Act-up) said: "What you are doing is requesting the pan-democratic camp to write you a blank cheque … or do the equivalent of telling you the PIN of our ATM card".

[74] Margaret Ng (Civic Party) expressed concern that the government's drafting of vague and open resolutions would give them the opportunity to make last-minute changes without notifying Legco.

Unionist lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, who declared his intention to vote against the revised proposals, also urged fellow pan-democrats not to forget human relationships: "How has Hong Kong come to this, where we are scolding our own friends?

To reserved a lament for the change he remarked in Emily Lau, who once had the reputation of a firebrand: "I thought she would bring a firmer and harder stance on principles and influence the Democratic Party.

[83] The National People's Congress Standing Committee in Beijing rubber-stamped the two amendments to the Basic Law at its session held on 28 August 2010, paving the way for local legislation on the specific electoral arrangements to be enacted.