Both the Central Authorities and the Hong Kong Government are committed to achieving universal suffrage, and Chief Executive Donald Tsang will take forward discussions within the community, the Constitutional Affairs Bureau says.

It emphasised any universal suffrage option must be consistent with the Basic Law, and should not require any amendments to the its main provisions.

In response to remarks by legislator Emily Lau in RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong, the bureau said her proposal that no nominating committee be set up when implementing universal suffrage for the Chief Executive was not consistent with the Basic Law.

Universal suffrage discussions progressing

The Bureau reiterated the government has been exploring possible models for implementing universal suffrage through discussions within the Commission on Strategic Development and the Legislative Council in the past 18 months, and progress has been made.

It said that most of the Legislative Council and Commission on Strategic Development's members now agree that a nominating committee should be set up in accordance with the Basic Law when implementing universal suffrage for the Chief Executive.

However, there are still significant differences on models for forming Legislative Council by universal suffrage, particularly on how the functional constituencies should evolve, it said.

Community must achieve consensus

The bureau added the community must achieve consensus on the specific model for implementing universal suffrage.

Te Chief Executive will publish a green paper on constitutional development in mid-2007, after the third-term Government has been formed in July.

It would consult the public widely on the green paper, and after the three-month public consultation period, it will summarise views and assess whether there is a foundation to come up with a set of mainstream views.

Four principles for universal suffrage

The bureau said to implement universal suffrage, four principles must be met, including addressing the interests of different sectors of society, facilitating the development of the capitalist economy, gradual and orderly progress, and meeting the actual situation in Hong Kong.

At this stage, the government has neither drawn any conclusions on the model for implementing universal suffrage, nor rejected any proposal. All proposals received will be covered by the green paper.

The bureau hoped the universal suffrage options would attract majority support among Hong Kong people, and stand a reasonable chance of securing two-thirds majority in the Legislative Council and being considered seriously by the Central Authorities