A pro-democracy coalition is seeking to rally dozens of pan-democratic members on the Election Committee to nominate a that is both like-minded and popular with the public. Power for Democracy announced on Sunday it had launched the campaign to convince at least 150 of the 326 pan-democratic members on the Election Committee to only endorse a “civil candidate” that pledges to restart political reforms and safeguard the city’s core values if elected. Pan-democratic committee members that agree to the campaign will meet on February 25 to discuss who to nominate, taking into consideration the results of a mock public vote organised by Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting. Any candidate that secures 37,790 nominations from the general public (one per cent of the city’s registered voters) in Tai’s electronic voting platform – to run February 7 to 22 – would be considered a “civil candidate” eligible for a later “civil referendum”. At the February 25 meeting, participating members will meet the four chief executive candidates and then discuss strategy.
