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the Legislative Council
continues to benefit from the
contribution of able persons who might not, for various
reasons, be able or willing
or willing to stand for election; but
who, nevertheless, represent a wide range of experience
and understanding of sectors important to the well-being
of the Hong Kong community.
13.
The present system of appointing members to the
Legislative Council cannot continue beyond 1997 because
of the need to constitute the legislature by elections.
This provision raises the same questions for the longer
term future of Appointed Members as for the
Members. In the meantime the options for 1988 are
Official
:
(i)
to retain roughly the same number of Appointed
Members as at present;
(ii)
to make a further modest reduction in 1988.
14.
Unless it is concluded that there should be no
major change to
to the number of Elected Members in 1988,
option (i) would probably imply the need for a further
expansion in the overall size of the Legislative
Council. Option (ii) would be consistent with the
gradual "step-by-step" approach which has characterised
the development of representative government so far.
It
would
allow for some
adjustment to the proportion of
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