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The Office of the Chief Executive and the Office of Legislative Council Member Ms Audrey Eu today (June 10) reached an agreement on the arrangements and rules for the live televised debate on the constitutional reform package.
The Chief Executive Mr Donald Tsang said, "The constitutional reform has come to a critical moment. I hope this debate can help citizens judge on an informed basis whether the Legislative Council should approve the package, which will pave way for the universal suffrage for the Chief Executive election in 2017 and the Legislative Council election in 2020."
The debate will take place in the Conference Hall, Central Government Offices New Annexe, on June 17 (Thursday) from 6.35pm to 7.30pm. The moderator is Mr Ng Ming-lam.
The 55-minute debate will consist of five parts, with a three-minute break:
Part Actions Time required Total time
- Music lead-in 1 minute 1 minute
and moderator
opens the debate
I Opening statements 6 minutes 7 minutes
in Cantonese
II Six rounds of 18 minutes 25 minutes
questions and
answers by
participants
(four in Cantonese,
two in English)
- Moderator's 30 seconds 25 minutes
intervention for 30 seconds
Parts I and II
- Break 3 minutes 28 minutes
30 seconds
III Moderator reads/ 12 minutes 40 minutes
plays out six 30 seconds
questions from
the public and
participants
respond
IV Four rounds of 9 minutes 49 minutes
questions and 30 seconds
answers by
participants
(all in Cantonese)
V Closing statements 4 minutes 53 minutes
in Cantonese 30 seconds
- Moderator's 1 minute 54 minutes
intervention for 30 seconds
Parts III, IV and V
- Moderator closes 30 seconds 55 minutes
the debate
Each participant will first give a three-minute opening statement in Cantonese.
In Part II, the participants will take turns asking each other's questions, and each will have a total of nine minutes to ask questions and make responses. There will be a total of six rounds of questions and answers. Each round consists of one core question, one core answer, one supplementary question and one supplementary answer. The first four rounds of questions and answers will be in Cantonese and the fifth and sixth rounds will be in English.
Part III will last for 12 minutes. The participants will respond to questions submitted by members of the public. There will be a total of six rounds of questions and answers. Each participant can spend up to one and a half minutes to answer each question.
Part IV will be in a similar format as Part II, except that each participant will be allowed to ask only two questions in Cantonese. In this nine-minute session, there will be a total of four rounds of questions and answers. Each round again consists of one core question, one core answer, one supplementary question and one supplementary answer.
In Part V, each participant will make a two-minute closing statement in Cantonese.
RTHK will collect questions from members of the public for the participants. The details are as follows:
1. Questions can be submitted online or by fax. All questions received will be sent to the "Working Group on the TV Debate on the Constitutional Reform Package" formed by the Chief Executive's Office and the Office of the Hon Audrey Eu for selection.
2. Collection of questions will start from 9am on June 11 to midnight of June 14.
3. Those who wish to submit questions online should fill in the form on RTHK's website at (www.rthk.org.hk/special/politicalreform). Questions can also be submitted by fax on 23395406.
4. According to the "Working Group on the TV Debate on the Constitutional Reform Package":
a) Entries should be related to the constitutional reform package. Each should be confined to 120 Chinese characters or 80 English words, and should contain just one question to one, and only one, participant.
b) Questions containing obscene language, comments of a disrespectful or libelous nature, gratuitous praise for either participant, or other inappropriate content will be rejected.
c) A person who wants to have his/her question played out as a voice question should leave his/her contact number in the online form or fax.
Questions submitted by the public will be vetted by a three-member panel comprising the debate moderator, Mr Anthony Wu Ting-yuk nominated by the Chief Executive's Office, and Mr Eric Cheung Tat-ming nominated by the Office of the Hon Audrey Eu.
Ends/Thursday, June 10, 2010
Issued at HKT 20:09
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