Hong Kong’s Legislative Council Thursday rejected an electoral reform plan with 28 of 37 lawmakers present voting against it after a lengthy debate ended Thursday.
Eight voted in favor, while one did not cast vote.
Lawmakers on both sides of the political divide stood firm Wednesday on their position during the first day of the reform motion reading.
The Hong Kong government moved a motion to overhaul the method to select the city’s next chief executive, prescribed in an annex of the Basic Law.
The motion was moved 20 months after the creation of a special task force to run the electoral reform process.
More than 3 million registered voters in the city will be able to elect the next chief executive by “one person, one vote” next year if more than 46 lawmakers out of the total of 70 vote for the motion.
But 27 opposition members and Leung Kalau, an independent lawmaker representing doctors, vowed earlier to veto the proposal.
Senior local officials made a last-minute pitch in the council chamber on Wednesday before the deliberations began, with Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor stressing that the electoral overhaul plan is the best possible option.
Chinadaily