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operate. A cumbersome structure will only reduce
waste of resources.
However, efficiency and result in there is no hurry for such changes; they can be introduced 4 after 1997. Before that year, except for some minor
refinements, the existing system should be retained
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to avoid destabilising the present system unnecessarily in the transition period.
As a matter of urgency, the Government
has to work out the detailed arrangements for the 1991 direct elections, such as the drawing up of boundaries for constituencies in particular. The Government has promised in the White Paper that such arrangement will be worked out over the next two or three years but there are concerns whether it will be too late.
Under the present system, the boundaries for constituencies in the Electoral College are based on those of the District Boards. Such definition has already been criticised as being too arbitrary and unrealistic. Though not satisfactory, the problem can still be overcome under the Electoral College system, in which the voters are limited to Distric
istrict Board members only. But when direct elections are introduced in 1991, the problems created by the existing definition of constituencies 25 will increase tremendously. Imagine a candidate
running his campaign in Tsuen Wan and Sai Kung at the
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it will be an impossible job if the
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constituency boundaries are not redrawn.
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Another problem is the timing for
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the redrawing of the constituency boundaries. Under
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by 1990, or even early 1991, which will pose a very
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big problem for the aspiring candidates. In the coming direct elections, the whole territory will be divided
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into ten, constituencies, which means that each candidate
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