14
Thirdly, the twelve Unofficial members from
from the nine functional constituencies to be elected in 1985 will represent the commercial, industrial, financial, labour, social services and education sectors of our community, and the legal, medical and engineering professions. They have been selected because each represents a major sector of the community, important to our economic and social progress; and because there are well established community-wide institutions and associations, professional registers, to provide a basis for their electoral rolls. The commercial, industrial and labour constituencies will elect two members each; the other six will elect one member each. Details of the composition of these constituencies and how the elections will be organised are set out in the White Paper.
15
or
Fourthly, the number of appointed Unofficial members of the Council will be reduced to 22 in 1985, instead of 23 as was proposed in the Green Paper.
16
Fifthly, it is intended to reduce the number of Official members to ten, including the three ex-officio members, in 1985.
17
The overall result will therefore be to increase the total membership of the Legislative Council in 1985 to 56,
of whom 24 will be elected Unofficials, 22 will be appointed Unofficials and ten will be Officials.
Review
18
It
was proposed in the Green Paper that there should be a general review in 1989, after the 1988 elections to the Legislative Council had taken place, with a view to deciding what further developments should be pursued.
19
It can be argued that the increase in the number of elected members has brought forward to 1985 some of the arrangements originally proposed for 1988; and that there remains a case for allowing these arrangements to be tested over at least two elections before they are reviewed. Certainly we do not wish to risk the instability which could be caused
could be caused by disruptive change. But there was strong support for the idea of a review, and also a widely expressed feeling that it should be held before the elections scheduled for 1988. It is evident that our representative system must be developed progressively over the years to come:
also
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