Hong Kong: Five pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong resigned on Tuesday in a high-profile push for universal suffrage, officials said, highlighting anger at the slow pace of reform in the Chinese city.
"We are giving the opportunity back to the people to vote for real democracy," Civic Party leader Audrey Eu told reporters after two members of her party quit.
"So we call on the people, if you truly believe in democracy, there is no reason to fear. There is no reason to fear the people`s will. We are going to do it by five pieces of paper, by five resignation letters."
The group said by quitting, they hoped to force bye-elections that would become a de-facto referendum promoting full democracy in Hong Kong, which was returned to China by Britain in 1997.
On Wednesday, the legislators plan to speak about their resignations in a legislative meeting and hold a gathering to call for democratic reforms.
Only half of Hong Kong`s 60-seat legislature is directly elected from five geographical constituencies. The remaining "functional constituency" seats are largely selected by pro-China business elites.
An 800-member election committee picked by Beijing chooses the city`s chief executive.
"Although pan-democrats represent the majority will of the people, they are only a minority in the Legislative Council, and cannot push forward any democratic reform," the Civic Party, one of the two political parties taking part in the resignations, said in a statement.
"The real meaning of the referendum plan is... to allow the wider public to express, through peaceful, rational and lawful means, their wish for the abolition of functional constituencies and implementation of universal suffrage at the earliest possible date."
Democrats are campaigning for universal suffrage in 2012, but the Chinese government has said Hong Kong`s chief executive can only be directly elected at the earliest by 2017 and the legislature by 2020.
Beijing issued a statement earlier accusing the "referendum" plan of being a blatant challenge to its authority, and was not in line the Basic Law, which spells out Hong Kong`s separate legal system.
Constitutional reform can only take place with the approval of two-thirds of Hong Kong`s legislature, meaning the democrats, who hold 23 seats, are unlikely to be able to force their agenda on policymakers.
And the democrats` latest campaign faces a potential setback after the Liberal Party, a major pro-Beijing faction, announced last week it would not take part in any by-election.
Political observers say the relevance of the democrats` de-facto referendum will be undermined if the bye-elections are shunned by other parties.
Speculation is rife that Beijing has been heaping pressure on some parties to stay out of the fray. The Liberal Party said its decision was in protest against the use of the word "uprising" in the democrats` campaign literature.
The party said the word implied the use of violence to overthrow the government.
The pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, which holds 13 seats in the legislature, was to decide whether to contest the by-elections in a party meeting Tuesday night.
Secretary general Thomas Pang told the South China Morning Post that the party, which was originally inclined to join in the contest, had to be more prudent because recent surveys suggested weak public backing for the campaign.
But the pro-democrats insist they will stick to their plan even if their opponents decide to boycott the by-elections.
Bureau Report
