In January 2010, five pro-democracy Legislative Council members from each of the five geographical constituencies resigned to trigger territory-wide by-elections for the purpose of instigating a so-called “referendum”.

Unveiling the proposal, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam cited the practice elsewhere: "In some countries where the proportional representation (PR) system is adopted, by-elections are not used to fill vacant seats arising mid-term."

[4] The government bowed to pressure and announced one week later that it would suspend reading of the bill for two months, pending consultations on the revised proposals.

[5] In July 2011, the Government published a consultation paper in which four options were proposed with regard to the arrangements for filling vacancies in the Legislative Council.

The original proposal attracted criticism from Pan-Democrats as it was seen as depriving citizens of their political rights; even pro-government figures in the legislature expressed reservations about the workability of the plan.

Miriam Lau of the Liberal Party carried out a 30-hour hunger strike to voice her opposition against such act of obstructionism and waste of public coffers.