X
3
The Chief Executive
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at present the Joint
The Governor and senior officials are appointed by HMG. According to Annex I to Declaration the Chief Executive must be selected "by election or consultations held locally and be appointed by the Central People's Government", In public discussion in Hong Kong a number of possible methods of achieving this has been suggested, including:
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(a)
(b).
(c)
By contested direct qualified candidates universal suffrage.
By election among Legislature,
if
election among all on the basis of
members of the necessary
after
consultation among them, of eligible candidates outside the Legislature.
on a short list from within or
By consultation, followed if necessary by election, by some other electoral college to provide a wider basis of the election (referred to below as the consultative college). There is a number of possible methods of achieving selection on
this basis, including a college composed of current members of the Executive and the Legislature; former members of the Hong Kong Executive Council and Legislative Council; representatives of bodies now forming the consultative colleges for the election of members
of functional constituencies in the existing Legislative Council; and representatives of other territory-wide bodies composed of local inhabitants, as defined in the Declaration, including the Chairmen and former Chairmen of organisations of standing in the Community.
Joint
A single contested direct election (option (a) above) would be unlikely to find favour in Hong Kong, at its present stage of development; it would be regarded as a major and fundamental change and as tco likely to
to lead to highly charged adversarial politics and thus instability.
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An election of the Chief Executive by majority vote among members of the Legislature (option (b) above) would be an easily understood method of producing a
producing a Chief Executive. It would confirm that he enjoyed the confidence
of
the