The Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau hopes pan-democratic legislators will take into account the clear aspirations Hong Kong people expressed to see progress made in the electoral systems in 2012, it says in a statement.

In response to remarks legislator Albert Chan made during a radio programme today, the bureau said the voter turnout rate in the Legislative Council by-election on May 16 was not only the lowest-ever turnout rate for any LegCo general election or by-election since the establishment of the Hong Kong SAR, it was also way below the target set by the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats.

The bureau's statement called on Mr Chan to face up to public opinion, that about 60% of the public do not support the so-called 'referendum in the five constituencies', instead of striving to put the blame for the low turnout on the Government and political parties which refused to take part.

The bureau's statement said the time has come for the community to refocus its efforts on dealing with the 2012 electoral reforms in a rational manner. Although the constitutional development package the Government proposes may not be the most ideal, a clear universal suffrage timetable has been obtained.

The Government has responded to one of the main reasons the pan-democratic legislators voted down the political package in 2005 by proposing that only elected District Council Members returned by 'one person, one vote' can participate in the District Council subsector seats' poll in the Election Committee and, through the 'proportional representation system', in the election of the District Council functional constituency seats in the LegCo.

The bureau's statement  went on to say that, according to opinion polls, 50% to 60% of the public wanted to see LegCo pass the 2012 constitutional development package.

The statement called on pan-democratic legislators to take into account mainstream public opinion, to be accommodating, and to work together to build a consensus within the community so that Hong Kong can implement universal suffrage in 2017 for the Chief Executive and in 2020 for the LegCo.