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Consultation Document on the Delineation of the Electorate for the New Functional Constituencies (FCs) and the Election Committee (EC) For the First Legislative Council Election
30 July 1997
Constitutional Affairs Bureau
Government Secretariat
Central Government Offices
3rd Floor, Main Wing
Lower Albert Road
Hong Kong
Dear Sirs,
We are writing to present the views of the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation (HKDF) in response to the Consultation Document on the Delineation of the Electorate for the New Functional Constituencies (FCs) and the Election Committee (EC) for the First Legislative Council Election of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Firstly, we wish to register our dissatisfaction over the unreasonably short consultation period allowed, which we believe calls into question the sincerity of the administration in seeking out properly considered and informed comment.
At the outset we would like to make it clear that in principle we favour neither FCs nor seats returned by an EC. However, since both these are prescribed in the Basic Law we are obliged to accept their reality, but would urge that the FCs seats be totally eliminated by no later than the end of the term of the third Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and if possible, sooner.
FCs
We are in agreement that the concept and criteria for the 9 new FCs be in accordance with that previously followed for the establishment of the old 21 FCs, though we regret that there is not more weight to non-business interests in the choice of new FCs. In previous submissions to both the Hong Kong Government and the Preparatory Committee, we have proposed a list of 12 candidate FCs from which the 9 would have been chosen and suggested that the majority of these seats be set aside for non-business sectors of the community.
Our 12 candidate seats were as follows:
We are nonetheless pleased to note that seats have been provided for one additional Labour representative, Culture & Entertainment, as part of the Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication FC, Information Technology, Retailers and Textiles & Garments.
FCs Electorate
We realise that due to the nature of the FCs selected, from a practical point of view corporate membership electorates will be in the predominance.
Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication FC
In the same way that our previous submissions on this issue provided
qualifications for individual membership of the electorate for a
Culture and Entertainment FC, it should be quite possible to do this
for electorate membership for the Sports and Publications element of
this FC and we strongly urge that this be done.
Information Technology FC
Since the constituent bodies in the Government's proposal for this FC
are closely aligned to those we have previously recommended, we again
believe that suitable qualifications and criteria can be set out to
enable a totally individual electorate to be enfranchised and strongly
urge that this be done in consultation with the proporsed constituent
bodies themselves.
EC
As proposed in various previous submissions we set out our recommendations for the composition of the electorate of the EC since these differ in substance from the proposals in the Consultation Document.
1.1 The HKDF recommends that the Election
Committee (EC) should be
constituted as set
out in Annex I of the Basic Law which is as follows:
1.2 The constituent bodies of the first three
categories in 1.1 above and their
delegate share are
recommended to be as follows:
Industrial, commercial & financial sector
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce 35 delegates
Federation of Hong Kong
Industries
35 delegates
Chinese Manufacturers
Association
35 delegates
Chinese General Chamber of
Commerce 35
delegates
Real Estate &
Construcation
12 delegates
Finance
12 delegates
Financial
Services
12 delegates
Tourism
12 delegates
International Chambers of
Commerce
12 delegates
The Professions
Legal
30 delegates
Accountancy
30 delegates
Engineering
20 delegates
Architectural, Surveying &
Planning
30 delegates
Medical
30 delegates
Teachers
60 delegates
Labour, social services, religious & other sectors
Labour
120 delegates
Health
Care
30 delegates
Social
Services
20 delegates
Religious
Groups
30 delegates
1.2.1 Each of these constituent bodies will be responsible for
electing its own
quota of
delegates.
1.2.2 The HKDF recommends the following be constituent members of
the
Religious
Groups:
Buddhists
Taoists
Muslims
Roman Catholics
Lutherans
Baptists
Church or Christ in China
Anglicans
1.2.3 The number of delegates to be elected by each of these
constituent bodies
should be
proportionate to the strength of their congregations.
1.3 The constituent bodies of the fourth category
in paragraph 1.1 above
should elect
delegates in relation to their membership as a proportion
of
the total membership
of the category.
1.3.1 The District Boards should be the constituent body to
represent
"representatives
of district-based organisations".
1.4 Eligibility to stand for election to these
seats should be restricted to
members of the EC
only.
1.5 Election of the 10 members should be by the STV system.
In conclusion, we would want to express our serious concern that the categorization of seat types, particularly in relation t the FCs, of the First Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is unreasonably biased towards the business sector. Not only will this mitigate against a fair hearing in the legislature of broadly representative views, but invites a real danger of confrontation between the well off and less fortunate members of our society.
We would be most happy to discuss our comments in detail with your Bureau at any time.
Your faithfully
George Cautherley
Vice Chairman
| Policy Paper - page revised 23-09-2002 Copyright © 1999-2003 Hong Kong Democratic Foundation. All Rights Reserved Reproduction of this paper is permitted with proper attribution to the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation |