Hong Kong - Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang said in an interview Monday that he might decide not to vote in the so-called democracy referendum forced by the resignation of five legislators. Tsang, Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed chief executive, said he was undecided on what he would do when the by-elections took place.
The legislators from pro-democracy parties resigned in January to force a series of by-elections in protest at the city's lack of progress toward universal suffrage.
They said they want the by-elections to be seen as a de-facto referendum on democracy, a move that has triggered alarm from China's leaders, who insist Hong Kong has no constitutional right to a referendum.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post Monday, Tsang described the by-elections as a "drama" that needed to be carefully understood.
"I have been exercising my right to vote all my life, but on this occasion, I have to think hard on what I need to do," he told the newspaper. "I have not made up my mind yet.
"This by-election is a very strange one. It is not a natural vacancy which occurs. It is deliberately engineered through resignation and re-election of the same people in order to introduce what they call a so-called referendum.
"It is a completely different texture altogether. We must understand this very carefully, so I have to think very hard about my position. ... My duty is to the people."
Hong Kong's three main pro-government parties have all said they would boycott the by-elections, for which no date has yet been set, but no government official has so far suggested people shun the vote.
The resignations were triggered by government proposals for limited electoral reform ahead of the 2012 legislative and chief executive elections, which critics said do not go far enough toward full democracy.
Hong Kong currently has limited democracy. Half its 60-seat legislature is directly elected, and there is no popular vote for chief executive.
The city of 7 million was technically entitled to full democracy from 2007 under the mini-constitution by which it was returned from British rule to Chinese sovereignty under a "one country, two systems" arrangement in 1997.
However, Beijing has intervened to rule out universal suffrage until 2017 for the chief executive and 2020 for legislators, saying the city is not yet politically mature enough for democracy.
