HK has all the trappings of an election ... except voters

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061205/wl_asia_afp/hongkongchinapolitics_061205162223

HK has all the trappings of an election ... except voters

by Mark McCord Tue Dec 5, 12:33 PM ET



AFP/File Photo: Political hopeful Alan Leong addresses the press at an election rally in the central district...



HONG KONG (AFP) - Political hopeful Alan Leong's campaign to become Hong Kong's next leader has all the trappings of a modern democratic electoral battle.
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He has an eye-catching logo, he holds fund-raising gatherings, he canvasses support on the streets and he talks of his manifesto changing the city for the better.

All that's missing are the voters.

In undemocratic Hong Kong, it will not be electors who choose the winner of the chief executive selection race in March, but a panel of elites sympathetic to the city's overall rulers in China.

But while Leong concedes he has no chance of winning against China's favoured candidate, incumbent chief executive Donald Tsang, the pro-democracy lawmaker has decided he must still pound the streets building up public support.

"I have set for myself the target of rekindling the interest of Hong Kong people in the chief executive election to at least give them a chance to choose between policies," Leong said after a fund-raising luncheon.

"If I succeed in doing that I will consider myself a winner," he added.

A lawyer by trade, Leong is a leading light in the moderate faction of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, which has long campaigned for an overhaul of the city's electoral system.

While he objects to the narrow-franchised election that will choose the chief executive in March, he has nonetheless put himself forward as a protest candidate.

He has begun campaigning early because he fears Hong Kong's seven million citizens have become politically complacent in recent years, thanks to the booming economy and the leadership of Tsang, who while considered a Beijing yes-man, is popular among the people.

"(I want) to try to overcome this feeling of helplessness or this culture of disability," he said.

As well as stimulating debate, Leong hopes to give Hong Kong a taste of what electoral politics would look like if democracy was introduced.

To even stand a chance of competing, he must first win the nominations of 100 of the 800 members of the Election Committee that will select the chief executive.

That's a tough task as the election committee is stuffed with pro-Beijing conservatives who are unlikely to vote against the communist leadership's preferred candidate.

That system -- introduced after sovereignty of the city passed from colonial rulers Britain to China in 1997 -- has prevented other challengers from toppling incumbent leaders.

In both elections since the handover, China's anointed candidate ran unopposed after receiving more than 700 nominations in the first round.

Leong is undeterred, however. His goal is simply to stimulate debate on what he and his fellow pro-democrats feel is an unjust political system.

"I cannot accept there will be no competition for the top political post in Hong Kong for the third time in 10 years," he said.

"Open competition creates a political marketplace where policies compete, proposals are tested and wider perspectives and better solutions are rewarded," he added.

"An absence of competition favours the mediocre (and) the unimaginative, and allows leaders to become arrogant, complacent, remote and defensive."

According to street surveys by his Civic Party, Hong Kong people are clamouring for the chance to vote for their leaders.

Margaret Ng, a colourful pro-democracy legislator in Leong's party, said he has been receiving positive responses from the public during hustings.

"They understand why he is doing this -- why he is standing even though he will loose," said Ng. "People from all over the territory come up to us and wish us luck. They want a competitive election."

So far Tsang has yet to indicate whether or not he will run in March, but the indications from Chinese leaders is that Beijing has found no other potential candidate to back.