Poll shows support for electoral reform rises

Hong Kong residents who were undecided about electoral reform have sided with the supporters — after announcement of the reform blueprint — pushing support for the reform proposal past the 60-percent mark, an opinion poll showed.

Sixty-three percent of residents surveyed by the Hong Kong Research Association (HKRA) between April 22 and 26 said they want lawmakers to vote for the reform package. This is to allow the electorate to choose the next Chief Executive in a universal suffrage election in 2017.

In a previous survey conducted by the same pollster two months ago, only 52 percent of people said they hope the Legislative Council (LegCo) passes the reform package. Sample size of the February poll was 1,151, and that of the April one was 1,099.

The result supported an observation of Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. At an event on Monday, she stressed there was majority support for the blueprint. Lam called for balanced media coverage in coming weeks to narrow the differences.

Some 29 percent of people surveyed last week wanted the blueprint vetoed — this was 2 percent higher than those holding the same view in the February poll.

The undecided minority appear to have made up their minds. Only 8 percent of respondents selected the options “hard to tell” or “no opinion” when doing the April survey. These two options, however, were chosen by 21 percent of respondents in the February survey.

Opposition arguments are also losing ground. Almost 70 percent agreed that the design for the 2017 election was an improvement in terms of increasing the level of democracy. But the same ratio of people surveyed were not convinced that abandoning the package would lead to a more open election in future.

National People’s Congress Deputy David Wong Yau-kar feared the city could wait “indefinitely” for a second opportunity for reform. This pessimism was shared by ordinary people — 47 percent of them expect to wait at least a decade if the opposition delays the reforms.

Political analyst James Sung Lap-kung from City University of Hong Kong said the government might have gained additional support with a strong start in its publicity campaigns.

The only major publicity stunt by the opposition camp over the weekend was the brief chanting of slogans by lawmakers outside Wan Chai MTR Station on Sunday.