Legislative Council Election︳How to postpone the "Career Council" for one year? 3 models have their pros and cons

Political situation

Written by: Lin Jian

2020-07-30 00:35

The Legislative Council election was originally held in early September, but under the new crown pneumonia epidemic, news is that the polling day will be postponed by one year.

Regarding the resolution of the parliamentary vacuum period, one thing is not yet clear: whether the chief executive requested an emergency meeting of the Legislative Council in accordance with Article 11 of the Legislative Council Ordinance; or whether to extend the existing members directly for one year, or similar to the provisional legislature. Form operation. According to the current regulations, different models will have completely different effects on the operation of the Legislative Council in the coming year, and will have completely different aspects.

If the Legislative Council election is postponed, the incumbent members may be postponed. (Profile picture)

Emergency meetings are limited to many functions of the assembly or fail to perform

According to Article 11 of the Legislative Council Ordinance: "After the term of office of the Legislative Council expires or is dissolved and before the date specified for the general election to elect members of the Legislative Council, the President must convene an emergency meeting of the Legislative Council at the request of the Chief Executive ."

A source from the establishment explained that if an emergency meeting is convened, the parliament will only be able to operate as a "caretaker assembly" throughout the next year, and some functions of the regular legislature will not be able to function. "These emergency meetings will only be the General Assembly of the Legislative Council, dealing with important matters, such as hearing the chief executive's policy address, reviewing the budget, etc., other bills committees, subcommittees, etc., may not be able to operate as usual."

He also pointed out that because these emergency meetings are convened as required by the Chief Executive, they will only be one-time in nature and will be "call" for special events. They will not be held every week like the regular legislative session. meeting. The source admitted that this "limited operation" approach will have a great impact on the functions of the Legislative Council in the coming year.

Extension of membership at the central level? Pros and cons

To solve the above-mentioned parliamentary insufficiency problem, there is a theoretical solution, which is to directly extend the current members for one year from the central level, or reappoint existing members or a group of new members in a form similar to the provisional legislature. To perform the duties of the Legislative Council.

The source pointed out that this approach can indeed restore the full powers of the Legislative Council, because the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress makes decisions or interprets the law, which can solve all legal technical minor issues. However, there are advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage of this approach is political controversy, and the legitimacy and source of power of the parliament are easily questioned by the opposition camp.

Tan Wenhao pointed out that the focus should be on how to run the election safely. (Profile picture)

The contradiction of the democrats: accept or get out of the car?

In addition, for the democrats, this "transitional assembly" may "secondary" other problems. If the central government finally decides to postpone the current legislators for one year, the shock may be small, but if the members are reappointed in a form similar to the provisional legislature, the democrats may be in conflict: in the end, for this "provisional parliament", should they accept the appointment? , Or protest against unfair elections, boycott?

It is understood that the democrats do not have unanimous views. The fact that "all the cars get down" has caused great political turmoil. It may repeat the history of the establishment of the establishment of the Provisional Legislative Council in the early days of the reunification. Some controversial bills, such as the abolition of the right to collective bargaining for labor, were "like no one" history. But accepting the appointment will be accused of not being persistent enough, which will provoke siege from other factions.

However, there are also democrats who believe that they should not fall into this "false dilemma." Tan Wenhao, a member of the Legislative Council of the Civic Party who is fighting for re-election in Kowloon East, said: "If you say that you postpone it for 14 days and then decide how many times it will be delayed depending on the epidemic, there is still a little reasonableness, which makes people feel that it is really an epidemic. You postpone it for a year, what is the logic? Except for fear of losing the establishment, I really can't find a reasonable explanation."

He also pointed out that the focus should be on "how to conduct elections safely," rather than on "how to deal with it after the postponement," otherwise the government will take care of it. "If you say that the epidemic is uncomfortable, you will postpone it for one year. In fact, there will be different threats in every election. Why would you postpone it for 10 years and postpone it to 2047?"

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