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Following is a question by the Hon Kenneth Leung and a written reply by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Raymond Tam, in the Legislative Council today (October 22):
Question:
It has been reported that when attending a student event on the 25th of last month, the Chief Executive (CE) remarked that the Government had earlier commissioned a polling organisation to conduct an opinion poll and the results indicated that nearly 70 per cent of the respondents said that if the selection of CE by universal suffrage on the basis of "one person, one vote" was implemented in 2017, they would vote in the election. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the following details of the opinion poll: (i) the date on which the poll was conducted, (ii) the organisation commissioned to conduct the poll, (iii) the number of respondents, (iv) the sampling method, (v) the exact wording of the questions put forward to respondents, and (vi) the results;
(2) whether the Government conducted in the past two years other opinion polls on constitutional development; if so, of the details of such polls, including (i) the dates on which the polls were conducted, (ii) the organisations commissioned to conduct the polls, (iii) the numbers of respondents, (iv) the sampling methods, (v) the exact wording of the questions put forward to respondents, (vi) the results, and (vii) the expenses; and
(3) whether it will consider regularly publishing the results of the opinion polls commissioned by the Government as a manifestation of the public's right to know?
Reply:
Mr President,
In consultation with the Chief Executive's Office and the Central Policy Unit (CPU), our reply to the questions raised by Hon Leung is as follows.
The opinion poll which the Chief Executive referred to on September 25 was conducted by an outside agency commissioned by the CPU. The CPU commissions professional research agencies to conduct opinion polls on major social, economic and political issues from time to time. Such polls are for Government's internal reference only, and relevant details will generally not be made public.
Ends/Wednesday, October 22, 2014
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