Speech by the Chief Secretary
at the resumed debate on the Second Reading
of the Legislative Council (Electoral Provisions) Bill 1985
in the Legislative Council on 3 April 1985
Sir,
I am grateful for the support given to this Bill by
my Unofficial colleagues and also for their understanding of
the very tight time constraints under which we have all been
labouring. These constraints arise, of course, from the fact
that the White Paper on the Further Development of
Representative Government was not laid on the table of this
Council until 21 November 1984, leaving only nine months for
all the necessary practical arrangements for elections to be
held in the Autumn of 1985 to be put in hand, for
consultations with organisations making up the functional
constituencies, and for enabling
for enabling legislation to be drafted.
This is because actual elections by both the electoral
colleges and functional constituencies have to take place
before the end of September leaving a month for the Governor
to complete the composition of the new Legislative Council
with the requisite number of appointed members.
2
It is a a fact, and I know that Members are aware of
this, that unless the registration of electors for inclusion
in the Provisional Register can begin on 15 April, and no
later, and unless the publication of
of notices of elections
inviting nomination of candidates are published in the
official gazette on 2 August, we shall not be able to complete
either the registration cycle or the electoral cycle in time
for election day.
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