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11.
Under such a system the Chief Executive and members of the legislature elected by the GEC would enter office at the same time and their terms of office would be of equal duration. It would then be for consideration whether the terms of office of other groups of elected members should also coincide with that of the Chief Executive or whether, instead, they should be of equal duration but commence and expire in different years.
12.
The question of whether elections to the Legislative Council should be "staggered", by holding the functional constituency and electoral college elections in different years, is one of the issues on which the public is being consulted during the 1987 Review. An advantage of such a system is that it would avoid a possible break in the continuity of the legislature every three or four years when new elections were held. Problems would arise, however, if the legislature were dissolved for any reason. Under such circumstances members of the new legislature would have be elected, initially, for different terms of office, order to re-establish the synchronization between the terms of office of the different groups.
13.
to
in
To ensure that
On balance, therefore, it may be preferable that terms of office of the different groups of members of the legislature be essentially the same and that they coincide with that of the Chief Executive. there is no break in the continuity of government, the election of
of the Chief Executive would need to take place shortly before his predecessor is due to leave office.
14.
A term of office of say, four years for the Chief Executive, would provide for reasonable stability and continuity without implying a significant extension to the term of office of members of the legislature. The Basic Law might provide for the Chief Executive to be elected to serve no more than two substantive terms of office. It would also need to provide, in the event of the temporary absence, incapacity or sudden death of the Chief Executive, or of the Chief Executive being removed from office, for the appointment of a Deputy or Acting Chief Executive. If, for whatever reason, the Chief Executive were unable to complete his full term, it might be preferable for his immediate successor to complete the residue of the remaining term of office before seeking election for a new term of his own.
Powers and functions
15.
Paper I of May 1986 described the present constitutional position and powers of the Governor, under the authority of Her Majesty's Government, emphasizing that for many years he has not, at his own discretion, exercised
/cont'd.
G.F. 316
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