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Council. This was further elaborated in Note 1 of October 1986
which described the advantages of the working partnership which at
present exists between the two bodies, and the desirability of
retaining this partnership in terms of the efficient administration
of Hong Kong and of producing legislation acceptable within the
community.
11.
One of the key methods of ensuring this working partnership
has been to provide for a significant element of common membership
between the Executive and Legislative Councils: at present out of
the 16 members of the Executive Council, 11 (including four
government officials) are also members of the Legislative Council.
A similar pattern of cross-membership between the future Executive
Council and Legislature of the Hong Kong SAR could be preserved by
means of the Chief Executive continuing to select some members of
the Executive Council from within the Legislature.
12.
Section I of Annex I to the Joint Declaration provides that
"the executive authorities
shall be accountable to the
Legislature". While the term "executive authorities" is not
specifically defined, it would appear that this provision would be
met by maintenance of a system similar to the present one, the
essential elements of which are that the Legislature has the power:
(a)
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to propose amendments to, or to decline to enact, draft Legislation put forward by the Executive;
to vote or deny funds;
to debate matters of policy;
to question the administration of public issues for which it
is responsible;
(e)
13.
to call the administration to account for the expenditure of
public funds.
Under existing practice the ten government officials who are
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