Govt proposes amendments to electoral overhaul bill

The government has introduced several amendments to its bill to pave the way for an overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system, including expanding a candidate-screening committee to bring in “community leaders”.

The administration tabled the bill to Legco earlier this month after Beijing decided, among other things, that the committee that selects the chief executive must be expanded from 1,200 members to 1,500, and for the committee to get new powers to choose 40 out of 90 lawmakers in an expanded Legco.

A vetting committee will also be established to screen candidates hoping to join Legco or become CE.

At a Legco bills committee meeting, officials proposed that the size of this vetting panel be increased from the maximum five people originally envisaged, to eight.

They said this would allow the chief executive-appointed committee to add one to three non-public officers to serve as unofficial members, on top of three to five public officers.

Another amendment involved increasing a fine for government-funded organisations which refuse to let the authorities use their premises as polling stations, from HK$10,000 to HK$50,000.

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang said they would need more time to review some of their other proposed amendments and would leave those matters for the next meeting.

One of these amendments involves banning legal action against decisions made by the vetting committee over a candidate’s eligibility.