The first phase consultation for the political reform was completed earlier this month. As someone who cares a lot about the topic (and has little else to do during his spare time), I have tabled a proposal of my own. Since the consultation period has ended, the proposal now can be made public. (Of course, the chance of someone stealing my proposal ranges between nil to none anyways.)
Chief Executive Elections
The Nomination Committee shall consist of
District Council members may not stand for Nomination Committee elections unless he/she is a member of Legislative Council.
In order to be nominated as an official candidate, any potential candidate to the post of Chief Executive shall receive:
Each Nomination Committee member can only nominate one candidate. Each registered voter can only nominate one candidate.
A candidate can receive nomination from no more than 20% of Nomination Committee members.
Election will be held in two stages. In the first stage, a candidate is elected if he/she receives more than 50% of all valid ballots. Otherwise, the two candidates with the highest number of votes would advance to the second stage. At this stage, a candidate is elected if he/she receives more than 50% of all valid ballots.
The number of Legislative Council members in 2016 shall remain at 70.
40 members shall be elected through Geographical Constituency. The territory is partitioned to six electoral districts proportional to population.
The seats will be allocated in proportion to population of each district. Nomination requirements would remain the same as before.
10 members shall be elected through Territorial Constituency. All registered voters not registered as an elector in Functional Constituencies are eligible to vote and be nominated as a candidate.
In order to be nominated as an official candidate, any potential candidate should receive nominations from 200 registered voters.
Each voter may for up to 4 candidates. A candidate is elected if he/she is among the 10 candidates with the highest number of votes.
The number of members from Functional Constituency shall be reduced to 20, distributed as follows:
8 members are elected by voters working in the following fields:
A candidate must work in one of the above fields to be able to stand for election. Each voter may vote for up to 4 candidates. The 8 candidates receiving the most votes are elected.
8 members are elected by registered business owners. A candidate must own a business in Hong Kong under the Company's Act. Each voter may vote for up to 4 candidates. A candidate is elected if he/she is among the 8 candidates with the highest number of votes.
4 members are elected by members of labour unions and women's groups. A candidate must be a member of a registered labour union or women?s group. Each voter may vote for up to 4 candidates. The 4 candidates receiving the most votes are elected.
By doing registering to vote in the Functional Constituency, a voter forfeits the right to vote and to run for election in Territorial Constituency elections, and vice versa.
As senior government officials have stated publicly that any proposal where registered voters can directly nominate candidates for the Chief Executive election, something that is possible under my proposal, would not make it to the second round of consultations as they are unconstitutional, my proposal is probably in the trash already. However, as the governments (in both Hong Kong and Beijing) have improved (to me at least) their proposal in the last round of political reform (thanks to five legislators who forced a "referendum" by resigning, triggering by-elections), there is still hope for proposals such as the one tabled above.