SECRET
4. The British Government would welcome the Chinese Government's
detailed views on these points. For our part, we believe that the following principles could best form the framework for creating a Election Committee system for the legislature:
(a) since the objective of the Election Committee is to return a proportion of the members of the legislature, it should not itself be an institution of government; it should cease to function once its main task of returning the members of the legislature has been accomplished. A fresh electoral roll would be compiled for each new
election;
(b) the composition of the Election Committee should be designed, as far as possible, to avoid direct duplication with the membership of other constituencies returning members of the legislature;
(c) the Election Committee should be as representative as
possible;
(a) the procedure for the nomination by the Election Committee of candidates to the legislature should be simple, open and prescribed in the electoral law;
5.
(e) voting should be by secret ballot.
Having regard to the composition of other election committees provided for in the present draft of the Basic Law, the British Government would like to suggest the following basis for further detailed discussion of the composition of the Election Committee:-
(a)
Industrial, commercial and financial sectors; the professions; labour, social services and religious sectors.
25 per cent
(b)
Senior political figures; including former Executive Councillors, former Legislative
Councillors.
25 per cent
ROEACE
SECRET