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The Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung; the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam; the Secretary for Justice, Mr Rimsky Yuen, SC; the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Raymond Tam; and the Under Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, today (July 15) held a press conference on the Report by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on whether there is a need to amend the methods for selecting the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2017 and for forming the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2016 and the Report on the Public Consultation on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive in 2017 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2016 at the Auditorium, Ground Floor, Central Government Offices, Tamar. Following are the opening remarks by the Chief Secretary for Administration at the press conference:
Let me just repeat what I have said in Cantonese.
On behalf of the Constitutional Development Task Force, I just want to say a few words. During the five-month public consultation, we were very impressed by the very enthusiastic and overwhelming response of the general public. Together with the relevant bodies, the Task Force had attended a total of 226 district and consultation events. We have received about 124,700 written submissions. The consultation report released today has comprehensively summarised and truthfully reflected the public's views collated.
The purpose of the first-stage consultation is to prepare for the Chief Executive to kick-start the constitutional development "Five-step Process", that is, in the first step, the Chief Executive has to make a report to the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) to invite NPCSC to decide whether amendments should be made to the electoral methods in the selection of the Chief Executive in 2017 and the formation of the Legislative Council in 2016. I am pleased that we have accomplished our task. Based on the public views collated, the Chief Executive has made a report to the NPCSC today, taking the view that there is a need to amend the method for the selection of the Chief Executive in 2017 in order to achieve the objective of universal suffrage, whereas there is no need to amend Annex II to the Basic Law for the formation of the Legislative Council in 2016.
What has impressed me most during the public consultation is the eagerness of the general public to be able to cast their vote to select the Chief Executive in 2017. This is indeed a very strong driving force for the Constitutional Development Task Force to continue its work in the coming months. We will continue to engage stakeholders and political parties with a view to narrowing the differences and to forging consensus so that about 5 million eligible voters in Hong Kong would be able to cast their vote in selecting the next Chief Executive.
Thank you very much.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the opening remarks.)
Ends/Tuesday, July 15, 2014
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