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15
overnment should continue to be evolutionary rather
than revolutionary; that each step should be carefully
considered; and that changes should command wide
support and confidence in the community.
26.
a
Such evolution must also be compatible with
smooth transfer of government in 1997. There will be
inevitable changes at that time. The interests of the
community will be best served if there is also a high
degree of continuity and the form of government is one
with which the people of Hong Kong are already
familiar. In considering the development of Hong
Kong's system of representative government before 1997,
taken of the relevant
account
must
therefore
be
stipulations of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and
the deliberations of the Basic Law Drafting Committee
over how those provisions should be implemented after
1997. In this connexion, the Government has taken note
of the fact that all the options in the latest draft of
the
of the future Basic Law concerning the election
legislature include an element of direct elections.
Introduction of Direct Elections
27.
taken Having
account
of all the factors
considered above, the Government has concluded that the
introduction of a number of directly elected Members
1997 would be
into
a
before 1997 the Legislative Council before
logical and desirable further step in the development
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