Hong Kong will not block members of a new candidate vetting body from running for chief executive, as the incumbent Carrie Lam has promised not to serve on the body if she seeks reelection, the minister overseeing elections has said.

Secretary of Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang was responding to a suggestion by Cheng Chung-tai of Civic Passion, one of the few pro-democracy lawmakers remaining in the Legislative Council, at the start of a debate on the government’s proposed electoral reform legislation in the chamber.

Cheng had asked why the amendment bill did not specify that members of the new candidate eligibility review committee would be ineligible to contest elections for chief executive or LegCo in order to avoid a conflict of interest.

Tsang said that Lam’s pledge should be enough to reassure the public.

At the same debate, Gary Chan, a member of the pro-establishment party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said that he thought the maximum fine, of HK$50,000, for interfering with the work of the committee was too low and did not have a deterrent effect.

Tsang said Chan’s comment was reasonable and that he would study whether the penalty was sufficient. Roy Tang, permanent secretary in Tsang’s bureau, also said that the fine would not be the only penalty, and anyone found to have violated the electoral legislation now under debate would be banned from standing as a candidate for five years.

Lawmaker Martin Liao expressed concern that the LegCo election, which was deferred from last September for a year and then to December, might have to be postponed again if the COVID-19 pandemic returned in the winter.

Tsang replied that the government would work out different contingency plans, including the possibility of setting up polling stations at border crossings, so Hong Kong people living in mainland China could vote without having to cross immigration and customs checkpoints.

The local legislation implementing electoral reforms mandated by Beijing is expected to be passed in the coming months by a Hong Kong legislature almost completely absent of pro-democracy members. Based on the current schedule, the next Legislative Council is to be elected in December with 90 members, up from 70, with 40 of the lawmakers chosen by an Election Committee that will be newly empowered for the purpose.

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