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YEARS' TIME. CIRCUMSTANCES MIGHT NOT BE SUITED TO UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE..
THEY THEREFORE SUGGESTED A TRIGGER MECHANISM FOR THE REFERENDUM. THIS MIGHT BE A NEGATIVE TRIGGER'' WHEREBY UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE CAME IN 2007 UNLESS A MAJORITY OF LEGCO VOTED AGAINST. A VARIANT OF THIS WAS THAT IN THE EVENT OF SUCH A LEGCO VOTE, UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE WOULD NOT BE POSTPONED INDEFINITELY BUT ONLY FOR A SET PERIOD. THE GROUP OF 39 HAD SUGGESTED A LINK WITH THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE VOTING: EG, A 50 PERCENT TURNOUT WOULD TRIGGER UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. IN HIS OWN VIEW 50 PERCENT MIGHT BE TOO HIGH.
4. ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE WAS TO PROVIDE IN THE BASIC LAW ONLY FOR THE SHORT TERM, EG SPECIFYING THE METHOD OF SELECTION OF THE FIRST AND SECOND CES AND FIRST TO THIRD LEGISLATURES. FOR SUBSEQUENT CES AND LEGISLATURES, THE SAR COULD THEN DECIDE APPROPRIATE MEANS OF SELECTION ON ITS OWN. THE SAR MIGHT DECIDE TO CONDUCT FURTHER REVIEWS IN DUE COURSE. THIS WAS WORTH CONSIDERING. BUT OTHERS WERE CONCERNED THAT, WITHOUT A FIXED PROCEDURE, THERE WOULD BE CONTROVERSY FOR THE NEXT 18 YEARS. INDUSTRIAL PLANS AND THIS REQUIRED STABILITY IN THE YEARS AHEAD. THE DRAFTERS WOULD NEED TO CONSIDER ALL THESE
DIFFERENT VIEWS.
5. THE NEXT QUESTION WAS THE STARTING POINT FOR DIRECT ELECTIONS UNDER THE BASIC LAW. APART FROM THE GROUP OF 190'S INSISTENCE ON 50 PERCENT DIRECTLY ELECTED MEMBERS IN THE LEGISLATURE FOR 1997, VARIATIONS OF OPINION WERE NOT GREAT. SOME WANTED ONE THIRD, SOME 30 PERCENT, WHILE THE DRAFT BASIC LAW AT PRESENT HAD 27 PERCENT. THERE WERE ALSO DIFFERING VIEWS ON THE PACE OF INCREASING THE NUMBER OF DIRECTLY ELECTED MEMBERS AFTER 1997.
6. THE DRAFTERS HAD RECEIVED LITTLE COMMENT ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EXECUTIVE AND THE LEGISLATURE. THEY HAD NOTED ALLEN LEE'S VIEWS AS RECORDED IN THE PRESS THAT THE EXISTING RELATIONSHP PROPOSED IN THE BASIC LAW WAS NOT CLEAR ENOUGH. LEE'S FORMULA APPEARED TO ENVISAGE CHAIRMEN OF THE VARIOUS CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEES WITH POLICY INVOLVEMENT (EG TRANSPORT ADVISORY COMMITTEE, EDUCATION COMMITTEE) BEING TAKEN FROM MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE. THESE CHAIRMEN WOULD ALSO JOIN EXCO. THIS WOULD MAKE THE COMMITTEES ACCOUNTABLE TO THE LEGISLATURE AND ENABLE THE EXECUTIVE AND THE LEGISLATURE TO CO-ORDINATE THEIR ACTIVITIES. LU FELT HOWEVER THAT THIS WOULD BE A MAJOR CHANGE FROM THE PRESENT POSITION WHERE ADVISORY COMMITTEES WERE ESTABLISHED BY THE EXECUTIVE. LEE'S PROPOSAL WOULD SUBORDINATE THEM TO THE LEGISLATURE.
7. THE DRAFTING COMMITTEE HAD FELT THAT THE PRESENT SYSTEM
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