頭條日報 頭條網 - The de facto referendum will be a non-starter. by Michael Chugani

Student leaders want pan-democrat legislative councillors to resign so there will be a by-election, which will be used as a de facto referendum on the central government's political reform framework for Hong Kong. Most pan-democrat legislators are reluctant (unwilling, hesitant) to resign. That means the de facto referendum will be a non-starter. A plan or an idea is a non-starter if it has no chance of succeeding. It is a non-starter to demand that the central government changes its reform framework for Hong Kong because this demand has no chance of succeeding. A by-election, as explained in a previous column, is a special election to fill a vacancy. As I have also explained, the word "referendum" means asking voters to decide on a single political issue.

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he Latin expression "de facto" means "in fact", "in reality", or "actually". For example, China is a de facto capitalist country even though it is ruled by the Communist Party. This means China is, in reality, or in fact, a capitalist society. Hong Kong's laws do not allow referendums. But if pan-democrat legislators resign and ask voters in a by-election to decide on whether or not to accept the central government's reform framework, the by-election will in reality, or in fact, be a referendum. The government can, of course, ignore the result of such a de facto referendum because Hong Kong does not have a referendum law.

        Referendums are allowed in the US. Different states in the US sometimes have referendums to ask voters to decide on political issues. In last week's American elections, Oregon, Alaska, Washington DC, and Guam also included referendums on legalizing marijuana. Voters in all four places supported legalizing marijuana. There were also referendums to increase the minimum wage. Voters, of course, supported increasing the minimum wage. Voters in a referendum in the city of Berkeley in California supported putting a tax on soft drinks containing sugar because too many Americans are overweight.

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        學生領袖希望泛民立法會議員辭職以舉行補選（by-election），用以就中央政府為香港定下政改框架表態的變相公投（de facto referendum）。大部份泛民議員都不願（reluctant）辭職。也即是說，變相公投（de facto referendum）只能胎死腹中（non-starter）。若某計劃或想法沒可能成功，那它就是個non-starter。要求中央政府改變其香港政改的框架是不切實際的空想（non-starter），因為這個要求注定失敗。正如上一篇專欄所言，by-election就是填補空缺的特殊選舉。我也曾解釋，referendum就是選民就單一議題表態的公投。

        拉丁習語de facto 解作「其實」、「事實上」或「實質上」。譬如，中國是個de facto資本主義國家，即使它被共產黨統治；也即是說，中國在現實中或實際上是個資本主義國家。香港法律不容許公投（referendums），但若泛民議員辭職，在補選（by-election）中要求選民就着是否接受中央的政改框架而投票，那末補選（by-election）事實上就變成了公投（referendum）。政府當然亦可以漠視這種變相公投（de facto referendum）的結果，因為香港並沒有公投（referendum）法。

        美國則容許公投（referendums）。美國不同的州份，有時亦會舉行公投（referendums），要求選民就一些政治議題下決定。在上星期的美國中期選舉中，奧勒岡州、阿拉斯加州、華盛頓和關島就加入了大麻（marijuana）合法化的公投（referendums）。這四個地方的選民都支持大麻合法化。另外也有提高最低工資的公投（referendums），當然，選民亦支持提高最低工資。加州城市柏克利的選民，就在公投（referendum）中支持向含糖的汽水徵稅，因為有太多的美國人超重了。

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

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Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=308341§ion_name=wtt&kw=126