Two proposals concerning selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage listed in the1988 Basic Law consultation document did not mention “civic nomination”, Chief Executive CY Leung says in a statement issued today. It was released in response to a recent allegation that the "civic nomination" concept had been raised during the drafting of the Basic Law.
If someone said the concept of "civic nomination" had been raised during the drafting of the Basic Law, this exactly illustrates that "civic nomination" and "nomination by a nominating committee" are different concepts, the statement notes.
After comprehensive consultation by the Basic Law Drafting Committee, "nomination by a nominating committee" was eventually stated in the Basic Law.
"Hence for those who recently said that 'nomination by a nominating committee' could be interpreted as 'civic nomination', they are just 'guessing and taking advantage of the literal meaning of words' and contravening the Basic Law," the statement says.
"Last year, some legislators insisted that 'civic nomination' was indispensable in selecting the Chief Executive by universal suffrage. If today they insist on such saying, they know full well that they are contravening the Basic Law and are just creating problems," the statement concludes.
"The result is they would take away the rights of Hong Kong people to select the Chief Executive by 'one person, one vote' in 2017."
