In response to the march held earlier on Saturday, the spokesman said "although the constitutional reform package, which represented a step forward toward universal suffrage, put forth by the government last year was not passed by the Legislative Council, we remain fully committed to promoting democratic development in accordance with the Basic Law, and attaining the ultimate aim of universal suffrage in the light of the actual situation in Hong Kong."

He said this is the Basic Law's requirement. It also represents the common aspiration shared by the central authorities, the HKSAR government and the public.

He added "the government has been exploring actively possible models for implementing universal suffrage for selecting the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council, and plans to draw conclusions early next year."

The spokesman said the government will make the report public, reflect the conclusions to the Central Authorities, and then commence the next stage of work.

Thousands of Hong Kong citizens took to streets in Hong Kong Island on Saturday afternoon. Organizers said the march was aimed at "striving for universal suffrage." However, the demands made by the marchers were diversified, judging from the slogans on the banners and placards they were carrying.

The citizens began marching from Victoria Park at around 3:30pm.

In October last year, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government put forward its package proposals for Hong Kong's constitutional development, after extensively soliciting views of people from various walks of life.

The package proposals were believed to be a big step forward to the ultimate goal of universal suffrage according to the Basic Law and obtained support of a majority of Hong Kong citizens and Legislative Council members.

However, the package proposals were not adopted by the Legislative Council, because the package failed to gain support from a two-thirds majority of the LegCo members.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said that Hong Kong had lost an opportunity of making a big stride to democracy.

Also on Saturday, in the morning, some 50,000 Hong Kong citizens participated in a parade to mark the 9th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

The theme of the parade was "harmony, solidarity and development," expressing citizens' hope for economic development, social harmony and solidarity.