Hong Kong - The Hong Kong government Thursday hinted at a broadening of democracy in a set of proposals to be unveiled later this month for the running of the 2012 elections in the city.

Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam told reporters there would be "new democratic elements" in the government's proposals for the elections.

He declined to go into details but said the proposals would be outlined in a consultation paper on constitutional reform for the former British colony due to be released later in November.

Lam insisted the proposals would be in line with Beijing's guidelines two years ago which allow for free elections for the chief executive in 2017 and for the legislature in 2020.

Hong Kong currently has only limited democracy with half of its 60 legislators directly elected and no public vote for the chief executive, who is picked by a largely pro-Beijing election committee.

Under the terms of its mini-constitution, Hong Kong was technically entitled to full democracy from 2007 but Beijing intervened to rule out universal suffrage for at least 10 more years.

Pro-democracy lawmakers angry at the lack of progress towards full democracy voted down a previous attempt by the chief executive to introduce minor constitutional changes.

The new proposals for constitutional reform are expected to be made public as early as next week and there is due to be a public consultation period before they are finalised.

Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty under a "one country, two systems" arrangement guaranteeing it political autonomy from mainland China in 1997 after 156 years as a British colony. (dpa)