Writethru: Top HK officials promote constitutional reform package in bus-parade

The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Saturday conducted a bus- parade across the region to promote the proposed universal suffrage package for the chief executive in 2017.

Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam and other senior officials of the government took part in the parade which started from Kennedy Town in Hong Kong Island through Lok Fu in Kowloon and ended in Tai Po community in the New Territories.

Apart from Lam, other two members of the Task Force on Constitutional Development, namely Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen and Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam, also participated in the parade.

Riding on a open-top double-decker bus on which slogans of " 2017 Make it happen!" were hung, the officials waved to passers-by on the streets. Some of them gathered to welcome the bus, echoing the slogans.

Carrie Lam said the government would seek more opportunities to explain the proposed universal suffrage package for citizens in face-to-face contact so as to gain more public support before submitting the package to the Legislative Council (LegCo) for voting.

The Hong Kong government unveiled on April 22 the constitutional reform package designed for the election of the next chief executive by "one person, one vote" universal suffrage in 2017.

"It is not easy for the government to formulate such a universal suffrage package, since they have to balance the interests of different circles in Hong Kong," a citizen surnamed Leung living in Kennedy Town told Xinhua.

"I hope Hong Kong could realize 'one person, one vote' in 2017 to choose our top leader," said a cooked food vender in Tai Po. "A chief executive elected by universal suffrage will better listen to public voice, especially on improving people's livelihood." Endi