the rest of Civic Party to oppose it. 2015 electoral reform During the debate over the electoral reform over the 2017 Chief Executive election, Tong publicly criticised as unreasonable the pan-democrats' support of party or public nomination for chief executive candidates. He put forward a more moderate proposal in October 2013. The proposal suggested increasing the membership of the nominating committee from the 1,200-member Election Committee to 1,514, while maintaining the nomination threshold of 150 votes. Tong recommended the instant runoff voting system, which is used in Ireland, Australia, Sri Lanka; in mayoral elections in London, San Francisco; and in elections for some state governors in the United States, to elect a CE who could be acceptable to all sectors. Tong also advocated repealing an existing law which disallows the Chief Executive belonging to a political party membership. On 31 August 2014, when Beijing announced its decision constraining Hong Kong's political reform, which would spark the 2014 Hong Kong protests, Tong was immediately critical, vowing to vote against it, which cast severe doubt on the government's ability to win the two-thirds majority a reform package needed in the Legislative Council. He cried as he reacted on a live Cable TV programme. "It is the darkest day in the road for democracy," he said. "I am disheartened ... I don't see a future for moderates in Hong Kong politics." A moderate reform plan he drew up – under which the public would not be allowed to nominate chief executive candidates – received a cool response from his allies. The barrister said he would think carefully about the next step in his political career after a decision from Beijing that was "more undemocratic than I could imagine". "I thought there would be [some] chance for future dialogue," he said, referring to when pan-democrats were invited for talks with Beijing officials the previous month. "But now, I don't see any chance." He eventually voted against the unmodified proposal with other pan-democrat legislators. On 8 June 2015, before the vote, he set up a think tank Path of Democracy, composed of moderate democrats. Resignation from party and Legco On 6 December 2014, Tong stepped down from the executive of the Civic Party that he co-founded. On 22 June 2015, a few days after the legislative vote, he announced that he would quit as a member of the party, saying that since the end of