Hong Kong Public Opinion On Political Reform Bills
(Channel News Asia) HK passes political reforms amid protests By Leslie Tang June 25, 2010.
Political history was made in Hong Kong on Friday, as lawmakers passed political reforms that fell short of the universal suffrage demanded by some. The vote has split the pro-democracy camp, with angry protesters accusing the Democratic Party of betrayal. Police were on standby to prevent protesters from storming the Legislative Council building when voting was underway. And after 26 hours of debate, lawmakers passed the package with 46 'yes' votes. It was comfortably above the two-thirds majority support needed to pass.
And Hong Kong's leader called it a triumph. "The vote today is both an end and a beginning. Hong Kong will no longer be the same. More people will join us on this journey to democracy and to the promised land of universal suffrage," said Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang.
He met supporters in a surprise appearance, chanting the government's campaign slogan.
On the other side of the building, opponents mourned what they saw as a betrayal. "We can see the members of Democratic Party didn't follow their promise. So I think the supporters, including myself will also feel disappointed by their decision," said one protester.
The package was certain to pass as the government made a last-minute change to win over the Democratic Party, which holds the swing vote. It agreed to add 10 directly elected seats to the legislature for the elections in 2012 - up from five in the original proposal. This means 40 out of the 70 seats in the legislature will be directly-elected, with the remaining chosen by special interest groups. The committee which elects the chief executive will also expand from 800 to 1200.
Some hardline pan-democrats accused the Democratic Party of compromising its fight for universal suffrage in 2012, which the party denies. "If we keep on vetoing the political package, then it means the political scene in Hong Kong will be maintained at status quo. We will be kept at a stage of political stagnation," said Albert Ho, chairman of the Democratic Party.
Even as the political reform saga drew to a close more conflict is expected ahead, as Hong Kong still has a long way to go to achieve full democracy.
(Agence France Presse) Tens of thousands march for democracy in Hong Kong By Polly Hui. July 1, 2010.
Tens of thousands of people massed along Hong Kong's streets on Thursday for a pro-democracy rally on the 13th anniversary of the former British colony's return to China. In a chaotic scene, protesters heckled lawmakers who voted in favour of controversial Beijing-backed political reforms as police kept them apart.
Organisers said 52,000 protesters turned out for the annual July 1 march, down from more than 70,000 last year, citing the hot weather and a deep split in the city's opposition camp as major factors deterring potential supporters. The march has become a yearly opportunity for campaigners to show their opposition to Beijing and the local authorities.
But last week's passage of the political reforms that promise an incremental boost to democracy -- but not one person, one vote -- divided the opposition camp and turned many activists against the moderate Democratic Party.
Hundreds of supporters of the radical League of Social Democrats surrounded a Democratic Party roadside booth in the city's Wan Chai district, booing and shouting "shameless". Other activists accused Democratic Party members at the march of "betraying Hong Kong people", giving its beleaguered lawmakers the thumbs down and blowing vuvuzela horns to punctuate their discontent.
But members of the party, who marched at the end of the procession to avoid chaos, called for unity in the opposition camp and shouted "no fear, move ahead" when they were confronted by others in the rally.
(Hong Kong Research Association) (1,128 persons age 18 or over were interviewed on June 25-28, 2010 by telephone)
Q1. How do you feel about the passage of the political reforms by the Legislative Council?
51%: Happy
28%: Disappointed
21%: No opinionQ2. Who do you think is the biggest winner when the political reforms were passed?
14%: The central government
6%: The moderate pan-democrats
1%: The extremist pan-democrats
42%: The people of Hong Kong
19%: The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government
3%: The pro-establishment camp
4%: Others
11%: No opinionQ3. Do you believe that the passage of the political reforms is helpful towards propelling the Hong Kong political system towards universal suffrage?
55%: Yes
29%: No
16%: No opinionQ4. Do you think that the passage of the political reforms is helpful towards promoting social harmony in Hong Kong?
47%: Yes
38%: No
15%: No opinionQ5. With the passage of the political reforms, does this change your support of the moderate pan-democrats?
36%: Increase
22%: Decrease
31%: No change
11%: No opinionQ6. With the passage of the political reforms, does this change your support of the extremist pan-democrats?
17%: Increase
39%: Decrease
33%: No change
11%: No opinionQ7. With the passage of the political reforms, does this change your support of the pro-establishment political groups?
24%: Increase
14%: Decrease
48%: No change
14%: No opinionQ8. What do you think are the future prospects for the development of democracy in Hong Kong?
44%: Optimistic
33%: Pessimistic
23%: No opinion
(Hong Kong University Public Opinion Programme) (The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong interviewed 1,009 Hong Kong people between 18 and 22 June by means of a random telephone survey conducted by real interviewers.)
Overall performance of the Legislative Council
19%: Satisfied
51%: DissatisfiedOverall performance of the Hong Kong Police Force
69%: Satisfied
13%: DissatisfiedOverall performance of the People's Liberation Army
55%: Satisfied
3%: Dissatisfied
[The Hong Kong people say that they are dissatisfied with the overall performance of the Legislative Council? Is it the whole council? Or individual members such as the functional constituency members, the pro-establishment political parties, the extremist pan-democrats, the moderate pan-democrats, the League of Social Democrats/Civic Party or the Democratic Party? It is not possible to tell from a single question on the overall performance of the full Legislative Council.]
(Hong Kong Research Association) (1,751 persons interviewed July 1-5, 2010 about their ratings of the Legislative Councilors in their respective geographical district. The ratings are given on a scale of 1 to 6, with 1 being the lowest score and 6 being the highest score.)
The results are grouped according to political spectrum (pro-establishment, extremist pan-democrat, moderate pan-democrat). The numbers in the parentheses are the changes from the March 2010 poll.
Pro-establishment
3.43(-0.09): Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee
3.24(-0.07): Jasper Tsang Yok-sing
3.00(0.00): Tam Yiu-chung
2.98(-0.08): Lau Kong-wah
2.96(+0.10): Starry Lee Wai King
2.90(+0.26): Wong Kwok-hing
2.80(+0.05): Priscilla Leung Mei-fun
2.70(+0.05): Cheung Hok-ming
2.64(+0.10): Chan Kam-lam
2.46(+0.03): Wong Kwok-kin
2.46(-0.05): Chan Hak-kun
[Average rating change: +0.02]So-called moderate pan-democrats (that is, those pan-democrats who voted for the political reforms)
3.45(+0.18): Emily Lau Wai-hing (Democratic Party)
3.25(+0.10): Albert Ho Chun-yan (Democratic Party)
3.24(-0.15): Frederick Fung Kin-kee (ADPL)
3.09(+0.06): Lee Wing-tat (Democratic Party)
2.99(-0.04): James To Kun-sun (Democratic Party)
2.96(+0.10): Lee Wah-ming (Democratic Party)
2.93(+0.09): Nelson Wong Shing-chi (Democratic Party)
2.52 (+0.01): Kam Nai-wai (Democratic Party)
[Average rating change:+0.04]So-called extremist pan-democrats (that is, those pan-democrats who voted against the political reforms)
3.44(+0.09): Andrew Cheng Ka-fu (ex-Democratic Party)
3.38(-0.14): Leung Yiu-chung
3.19(-0.02): Lee Cheuk-yan
3.13(+0.06): Ronny Tong Ka-wah (Civic Party)
3.01(-0.11): Audrey Eu Yuet Mee (Civic Party)
2.94(+0.07): Cyd Ho Sau-lan
2.66(-0.02): Alan Leong Kah-kit (Civic Party)
2.63(-0.07): Tanya Chan Suk-chong (Civic Party)
2.52(-0.11): Chan Wai-yip (League of Social Democrats)
2.40(-0.15): Raymond Wong Yuk-man (League of Social Democrats)
2.11(-0.17): Leung Kwok-hung (League of Social Democrats)
[Average rating change: -0.05]
(Apple Daily) June 12, 2010.
The pan-democratic Community Development Initiative Foundation commissioned the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Programme to conduct a public opinion poll between June 23 to June 29 (note: June 23 was when the Legislative Council began deliberations on the political reform proposals). 1,002 citizens were interviewed.
The resuls show that 54.4% of the interviewees "support" or "very much support" the Democratic Party for holding dialogue with the Central Government in order to ultimately achieve universal and fair election. 25.1% "oppose" or "very much oppose" those reforms.
The same poll shows that 51.9% "support" or "very much support" the improved political reforms that were eventually passed. 25.3% "oppose" or "very much oppose."
(Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong) August 5, 2010.
Q1.
June 2010: "Which Hong Kong political party/group do you support the most at this time?"
July 2010: "At the moment, which Hong Kong political party do you support the most at this time?"Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong
June 2010: 9.3%
July 2010: 9.1%Democratic Party
June 2010: 12.0%
July 2010: 15.8%Civic Party
June 2010: 6.0%
July 2010: 9.5%League of Socialist Democrats
June 2010: 5.0%
July 2010: 3.9%Liberal Party
June 2010: 0.8%
July 2010: 0.8%Other party/group
June 2010: 8.6%
July 2010: 3.3%None/don't know/hard to say
June 2010: 58.4%
July 2010: 57.6%Table: Support for political party/group
Pan-democrat camp
June 2010: 29.2%
July 2010: 31.5%Pro-establishment camp
June 2010: 11.4%
July 2010: 10.8%No clear preference
June 2010: 59.5%
July 2010: 57.7%Q2. What is the most urgent social problem that needs to be addressed in Hong Kong?
31.2%: Wealth inequality
22.8%: Economic development
22.1%: Monopoly by the big capitalist groups
10.3%: Democratization
7.6%: Environmental conservation
2.2%: Other
3.7%: Don't know/hard to say/never thought about itPan-democrats
35.6%: Wealth inequality
10.3%: Economic development
25.6%: Monopoly by the big capitalist groups
21.4%: Democratization
3.6%: Environmental conservation
1.4%: Other
2.1%: Don't know/hard to say/never thought about itPro-establishment camp
21.9%: Wealth inequality
46.9%: Economic development
12.5%: Monopoly by the big capitalist groups
4.2%: Democratization
9.4%: Environmental conservation
3.1%: Other
2.1%: Don't know/hard to say/never thought about itNo clear preference
30.5%: Economic development
22.0%: Monopoly by the big capitalist groups
5.4%: Democratization
9.5%: Environmental conservation
2.3%: Other
4.9%: Don't know/hard to say/never thought about it