Regional Council
20. A new Regional Council to cover the non-urban areas and to perform functions similar to those of the Urban Council, was proposed at the same time as the reforms for the District Boards. The Hong Kong Government's aim was to obtain greater public participation in the provision of services in the New Territories, particularly in view of the large increase in population in the new towns, both actual and expected and also to correct the anomaly of a partly- elected Urban Council providing a wide range of services to the public in the urban areas, while similar services were provided to the public in the New Territories by a Hong Kong Government department.
21. The Regional Council to be constituted on 1 April 1986 will have 36 members. 12 members will be directly elected by constituencies; a further 12 will be appointed by the Governor. The Chairman and two Vice-chairmen of the Heung Yee Kuk will be members ex officio, and the nine District Boards in the New Territories will each elect from among their own members one further councillor. In April 1985 a provisional Regional Council of appointed members and District Board representatives was established to allow working experience to be gained before the Regional Council comes into being.
(d) Legislative Council
22. These reforms considerably enhanced representative government at the district, urban and regional level. In November 1984, having sought and received public comment on proposals contained in a Green Paper, the Hong Kong Government published a White Paper setting out the steps to be taken in 1985 to develop representative government at the central level. The proposals in the White Paper were endorsed by the Legislative Council in January 1985. The principal reforms concerned the Legislative Council, to which 24 members would be chosen for the first time by indirect elections; 12 were to be elected by electoral colleges comprising all members of the District Boards, the Urban Council and the new Regional Council, and 12 by specific functional constituencies covering the major sectors of the community. The total membership of the Legislative Council, excluding the President (the Governor) was increased from 46 to 56 members, with official membership decreasing from 16 to 10, and unofficial appointed membership decreasing from 30 to 22. In addition a review was promised for 1987 to consider whether and if so what further changes should take place in 1988. This, together with the proposal to introduce 24 indirectly elected members, differed from the proposals in the Green Paper, where a review in 1989 and the introduction of only 12 indirectly elected members were suggested. These changes demonstrated the willingness of the Hong Kong Government to respond to constructive public comment.
23. The first elections to the Legislative Council were held on 26 September 1985 (6 of the 24 new Legislative Council members were elected unopposed). The turn-out rate for the electoral colleges was 98.5 per cent; for the functional constituencies it was 57.6 per cent, ranging from 97.2 per cent in the Social Services constituency to 45.1 per cent in the Industrial constituency. The new Council met for the first time on 30 October 1985 in a new Council Chamber.
24. The new Legislative Council is the apex of the three levels of government. In constructing this framework for more representative government, the Hong Kong Government sought to establish close links between
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