Links with constituencies
7.
A requirement
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only that a candidate
should be a
any
registered voter and have a specified number of nominators
would leave
candidate who believed he had a wide
following free to choose in which constituency he would stand. A requirement that the candidate should be resident
in a constituency, and/or show through the nomination
has substantial support
would link him more closely with the
process
that
constituency,
constituency.
he
in
that
Nomination of candidates
8.
can be confusing to the
with only minority
Large amounts of candidates
electorate, and lead to candidates
to
support winning elections because the total vote is fragmented among too large a group of candidates.
In many
electoral systems there is in practice a pre- selection of candidates through party machinery which effectively limits
the number of serious candidates
three or four. Hong
Kong does not have
have a party system which could be used for
this purpose.
Other methods of limiting the number of
candidates and/or ensuring that they have close connections with their constituencies have been suggested eg by giving
a role to District Boards or other bodies.
Possible methods
9.
A variety of possible methods of conducting direct
have been put forward in Hong Kong. They
elections
include:
(a) A simple system based on the existing system used at District Board and Urban/Regional Council level
under which the only limitations placed on
candidates are that they should obtain the support of 10 nominators and put down a fixed deposit. It
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