Hong Kong | Opposition to vote plan ties support for first time

Yellow crosses are placed after pro-democracy lawmakers walked out of the legislative chamber to protest against Chief Secretary Carrie Lam who unveiled the Beijing-backed election reform package details, Wednesday, April 22

Opposition to a China-backed plan for the first election of Hong Kong’s chief executive rose, reaching parity with approval levels for the first time since the government unveiled the proposal in April.
Some 42.8 percent of respondents opposed the proposal, according to a tracking poll by a coalition of universities. That’s up from 37.6 percent at the start of the survey in late April. Support for the proposal slipped to 42.8 percent.
The legislation requires candidates for the 2017 election to be chosen by a 1,200-member nominating committee before the public vote. Pro-democracy groups argue the system is designed to ensure only Beijing loyalists will be able to compete.
The result of the poll comes a week before the government is due to present the election plan for a vote in the city’s legislature. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying needs support from at least four pro-democracy lawmakers to secure the two-third majority needed for passage.
Carrie Lam, the city’s No. 2 official, saw very slim chances of lawmakers approving the government’s electoral plan as all 27 pro-democracy legislators continue to vow to oppose the plan, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.
The proposal was the catalyst of nearly three months of street protests in the Asian financial hub last year.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic University jointly conduct the survey. The poll queried 1,118 adults between June 2 and June 6 and didn’t provide a margin of error. Fion Li, Bloomberg