Many proposals of the 2017 universal suffrage has risen up by different sectors of general public. They have a common consensus that Hong Kong must pursue a practicable and achievable plan for electoral reform in 2017. It should comply with the Basic Law, accommodates the interests of different groups and is likely to be accepted by the people. Some says the plan should ensure the nominating committee is neither just a screening mechanism nor a rubber stamp. Some says it is a must that the nominating committee should "love Hong Kong and love the country". Some even proposed that it is enough that just strengthen the nominating committee's electoral base for Hong Kong universal suffrage. The above arguments have different comprehension on the meaning of universal suffrage.
It is said that Universal suffrage which can be also called as universal adult suffrage, general suffrage or common suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens, it also means extending that right to minors like woman and non-citizens. Where universal suffrage exists, the right to vote is not restricted by race, sex, belief, wealth, or social status. Although suffrage has two necessary components, the right to vote and opportunities to vote, the term universal suffrage is associated only with the right to vote and ignores the frequency that an incumbent government consults the electorate. Our role for this issue is Beijing government whose stance is allowing “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong” is under the condition of ruling by patriotic people in the "one country, two systems". and we insists that it should develop by a "gradual and orderly progress".
Role of Beijing government
The central government always supports the universa...
... middle of paper ...
...al People’s Congress Chairman was very well informed about different opinions raised by the Hong Kong public since the launch of the public consultation of universal suffrage, and the Central Government is looking forward to the election reform of Hong Kong, and hope to gain a mutual benefit by the reform. “Hong Kong should seize opportunities provided by new reforms on the Chinese mainland — while the mainland could also benefit from Hong Kong’s success.” said by Premier Li Keqiang.
(Conclusion?)
Universal suffrage is a crucial stepping-stone of Hong Kong democracy development; undoubtedly it should be treated seriously and carefully. China Central Government, as usual, will support the decision of Hong Kong government and Hong Kong people. And at all circumstances, will remained committed to upholding the “One Country, Two Systems” principle and the Basic Law.
In this essay I will argue that British General Elections should be conducted using a system of Proportional Representation. First, I will argue that the system would be more democratic as every vote that is cast would be represented and this ...
However, the proposed systems must be thoroughly examined for their compatibility with Canada’s needs and their ability to resolve the issues outlined in this paper. From distortion in representation to Western alienation and to making the voices of minorities heard, the new system must also ensure that Parliament fulfills its role in representing, legislating, and holding the government. More importantly, after the current government abandoned its promise on electoral reform, it is important for researchers and future governments to build on the knowledge acquired by the Special Committee on Electoral Reform as well as previous experiences of the provinces with electoral
The issue of electoral reform has become more important than ever in Canada in recent years as the general public has come to realize that our current first-past-the-post, winner-take-all system, formally known as single-member plurality (SMP) has produced majority governments of questionable legitimacy. Of the major democracies in the world, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom are the only countries that still have SMP systems in place. Interestingly enough, there has been enormous political tension and division in the last few years in these countries, culminating with the election results in Canada and the USA this year that polarized both countries. In the last year we have seen unprecedented progress towards electoral reform, with PEI establishing an electoral reform commissioner and New Brunswick appointing a nine-member Commission on Legislative Democracy in December 2003 to the groundbreaking decision by the British Columbia Citizen’s Assembly on October 24, 2004 that the province will have a referendum on May 17, 2005 to decide whether or not they will switch to a system of proportional representation. This kind of reform is only expected to continue, as Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty decided to take BC’s lead and form an independent Citizen’s Assembly with the power to determine whether or not Ontario will have a referendum regarding a change to a more proportional system. There is still much work to do however, and we will examine the inherent problems with Canada’s first-past-the-post system and why we should move into the 21st century and switch to a form of proportional representation.
Trying to apply new reforms to the Canadian constitution has been no easy task. The mixture of the parliamentary/monarchy powers denies the citizens’ direct participation in the government’s decision-making process and does not allow the existence of a complete, free democratic system. A true democracy simply cannot fully exist with a restricted monarch selecting type of government and any reforms must be applied to make Canadian constitutions’ laws based on democratic principles. The deficiency of the Canadian electoral system decreases the level of democracy in the Canadian constitution. Canadian citizens are known for being active in political matters whether it relates to them specifically or not.
...lso speaks of the instances where the system had failed to accurately represent the national popular will’s vote and goes into depth about each instance. Obviously this article is against the Electoral College and it gives many points in support of the anti-electoral college supporters. In conclusion of his article he does mention that this voting system has worked well throughout the years, but believes that it is not necessary because of the reasons that the Electoral College was established is no longer an issue in today’s world. So therefore the voting system is outdated. My use for this article in my research regarding the Electoral College debate will strengthen my argument against the Electoral College. It will be useful because of the in-depth explanations of each instance in which the current voting system failed to represent the national popular will.
The second difference in legislation between two countries is that the people who make laws and the aim of legislation, in Canada, it is the representatives who are elected by people make laws. However, in China, the people who nominally make laws are representatives who are in the National People's Congress, they are not elected directly by people but by lower class representatives, and only the lowest class representatives are elected directly by people. For some reasons, people can not enter into an election contest freely, the qualifications and the numbers of people who can enter into the election contest are determined by the Communist Party of China, so people may even not be familiar with the representatives who they are going to vote for. Taking myself as an example, I lived in China for 22 years, the first and the only time I had chance to vote and knew ballots was when I was
Britain is considering changing current first past the post voting system (FPTP) to proportional representation (PR). The main reason is that FPTP is “quasi-democratic” voting system under which there is only one majority party ruling the government and it does not represent wishes of all voters as some votes are wasted. Whereas, PR seems to be the best alternative voting system with proportionality of seats in mandatory places, more parties ruling government and etc. Let us look at these two voting systems and analyze whether PR is suitable and alternative change for FPTP and do advantages of PR outweigh disadvantages.
ICL Document, (1988) . ICL- China Constitution: Retrieved March27, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/law/ch00000_.html
In On Democracy, Robert Dahl presents five criteria that states are required to meet in order to satisfy the primary aim of democracy, which is to provide political equality to all of its citizens (1998, 37). The criteria include effective participation, equal voting, enlightened understanding, open agenda setting and inclusion. (Dahl, 1998, 38). Above these criteria, this paper will only focus on effective participation and enlightened understanding to apply them to India; this is because its citizens are going through a tough time with the two criteria to become a state with effective democracy. Therefore, this paper will demonstrate that India is in the process of achieving effective participation, but significantly lacks enlightened understanding.
Several forms of government have been formed since the development of centralized power. The form of government that has showed the most international growth in the last century is democracy. There are currently over 160 democracies in the world today. These democracies, however, are not complete democracies. They are representative democracies that have been created by the leaders of our predominantly patriarchal international system. Due to this, many citizens of these democracies are considered second class citizens and their views are not heard by their supposedly democratic society. A solution to this problem is participatory democracy. Participatory democracy is better than the existing patriarchal society because it allows the progression of society as a whole, eliminates political oppression, and creates a predominantly equal political culture for the citizens it governs. There is much evidence that proves that the advantages of participatory democracy heavily outweigh the drawbacks and that it is a better way of government than patriarchy. This evidence can be found in historical analysis, scrutiny of the patriarchal international system, the development of participatory democracy, and the values of a participatory democracy versus the values of a patriarchal democracy.
...u- nist states, China remains unified under a CCP-Ied state that is ever vigilant not only againstwestern attempts at "xihua" China- thatis, imposingwesternliber- al-democratic institutions on China, but also "fenhua" China - that is, disinte- gratingitbysupportingTaiwaneseindependenceoranyforms ofethnonationalist independent movement. The reform period starting in 1978 marked a dramatic rearticulation of class and nation in the political economy of Chinese development, and along with it, a radical reorientation of the class nature of Chinese nationalism and the devel- opment of a depoliticized neoliberal cultural politics of class and nation. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and commercialized media - with TV at its core, but soon followed by computers and cell phones - have played instrumental roles in these processes (Zhao and Schiller 2001, Hong
Zhao, S., (2003), ‘Political Liberalization without Democratization: Pan Wei’s proposal for political reform’ Journal of Contemporary China, 12(35): 333–355.
The implementation of gender quotas in electoral politics is a mean to combat the democratic deficit that occurs when a social group is excluded from the political sphere due to structural or cultural reasons. Quotas are a form of affirmative action/positive discrimination which is meant to remove the structural and cultural obstacles that keep women out of the formal political ...
In a democracy, free and fair elections which are held after around half a decade, guarantee social rights and equality. These elections ensure that every citizen has the right to vote, and hence they create social stability among the society. Each and every individual casting his vote in the elections reduces discrimination among the people. Citizens are not judged on the basis of religion, race, color, social status and so on. In this way, the dignity of nationals is not damaged and people can live in peace. In addition to voting rights, a democracy also assures access to other services like security, education, property rights, and healthcare facilities. These human rights maintain social equity and involv...
With examples like Singapore, China hopes to maintain its current situation. Zakaria writes, “Their role model is former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Lee achieved the dream of every strongmen: to modernize the economy, even the society, of his country, but not the politics” (85). Ironically, Zakaria feels Chinese officials should return to the teachings of Karl Marx for help. He writes, “Marx understood that when a country modernizes its economy, embraces capitalism, and creates a bourgeoisie, the political system will change to reflect that transformation” (Zakaria, 87). Zakaria holds hope that the leaders will come around and accept the inevitability of China eventually becoming a liberal democracy. All of those involved, realize that that process will be a long and strenuous one because hardly any leader ever gives up his power willingly.