Ms Leung - who's a vice-chairman of the inluential Basic Law Committee - said the proposal to allow the people to choose five District Council representatives is not incompatible with the Basic Law.

The proposal has been floated by both the Democratic Party and the Alliance for Universal Suffrage - which are both considered moderate groups within the pan-democrat camp.

The government is proposing that elected district councillors should choose five additional Legislative Council representatives. Moderate pan-democrats are now saying that they will back the 2012 reform package if the government agrees to allowing the people choose them - following nomination by district councillors.

Beijing has been lukewarm towards the proposal - while not fully ruling the option out. Now the former justice secretary, Elsie Leung, has said the proposal is not incompatible with the Basic Law - and does not violate any decision by the Standing Comittee of the National People's Congress on political reform. She told Cable TV that she had initially opposed the idea - because she had misunderstood it.

The Democratic Party's chairman, Albert Ho, said the party might vote for the reform package, if the government accepts their proposal. Mr Ho said Ms Leung's statement only indicated her own change of mind - the final call must come from Beijing. He added, however, any amendments to the government's package must be made before the party's general meeting on Monday, otherwise they would still vote against it.