The main obstacle to democracy lies with the territory's own leader, not with the Communists in Beijing. Hong Kong's democrats have little to cheer. The territory's quasi-constitution, the Basic Law, allows for gradual democratisation before 2007 and for the possibility of directly electing both the legislative council (Legco) and the chief executive after that. The people are eager, and eligible, but their hopes have rarely seemed so forlorn.
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