Hong Kong debates how to give prisoners the vote
Updated
The people of Hong Kong are debating proposals from the government to deny the vote to people in prison, who are serving sentences of over ten years. This comes two months after Hong Kong's High Court threw out the current complete ban on prisoners voting. Hong Kong also has its wider issues about voting, in particular its struggles to achieve universal suffrage.
Presenter: Zulfikar Abbany
Speakers: Emily Lau, deputy chairperson, Democratic Party, Hong Kong
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LAU: Yes this is regrettable and I guess in the past when we enacted legislation I think it was a very serious oversight and I'm very glad that certain people took this case up in court and challenged the existing legislation and they won and the court came out and spoke very clearly that the existing general automatic and indiscriminate restrictions on prisoners' right to vote is not constitutional.
ABBANY: So why was their vote restricted in the first place?
LAU: Well I guess people were too conservative in those days, but actually my view is that of course we should lift all the restrictions and everybody in custody, whether they've been found guilty or not they should be given the right to vote. And one of our very conservative minded members said wait, wait, wait, if we're going to give some people the vote we have to be very careful because these people have been found guilty and most of them and they probably are quite anti-establishment types and if we give them the vote they would have the tendency to vote for people who oppose the establishment.
ABBANY: Surely that's democracy though isn't it?
LAU: I know but some of my colleagues don't believe in democracy.
ABBANY: And surely also voting would be part of the rehabilitation process?
LAU: I would think so, anyway I think that we made a mistake in the past and I'm glad that the court has taken the first step to rectify this. And then the Executive branch of the government is not contesting this, they are willing to bring legislation to the Council to try to amend the various laws. So what is before us now is whether we should lift the restrictions wholesale and give everybody in prison the right to vote or copy what's happening in some countries where they have certain restrictions. So this is something we're going to consult the public on.
ABBANY: And how do you think the public will respond?
LAU: I don't know, I mean I just told you the feeling of my conservative member in Leg Co and I think there are people who share that view, so I guess it is wide open in the paper that the administration presented to Leg Co they'd look at the examples in Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Canada, Japan, South Africa and Israel where there are no restrictions on prisoners' voting right, which I think is something that we can emulate. And then they also tell us the experience in Australia where a person serving a sentence of imprisonment for a term exceeding 36 months is not entitled to vote. So there are all kinds of things that we have to look at.
ABBANY: One of the proposals is that all prisoners should be allowed to vote apart from those convicted of election related offences or bribery. I could perhaps understand that, but still it would go against the grain of rehabilitation wouldn't it?
LAU: Yes I agree with you, that's why my inclination is to let everybody have the right to vote but others want to put restrictions here or there, that's why we're going to have this discussion. And I think it is important to consult the public, but it's also important to let the public know the experience in other countries. So I think we're going to have a lively debate in the coming weeks.
