CONFIDENTIAL
to the Steering Group. As he is incidentally a member of the Chamber, this should satisfy their needs.
Constitutional Development
7.
THIS IS A COPY THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN CLOSED UNDER
FOI EXEMPTION NO. 27..(..).
In a White Paper published in 1984 the Hong Kong Government touched on the question of direct elections and hinted that a small number of directly elected members would be in place in 1988 although no direct commitment to do so was made. In a follow up White Paper of February 1988, the Government however came to the conclusion that it would not
be right to introduce direct elections in 1988 but that 10 directly elected seats (out of 56) should be introduced in
This decision was attacked by the liberal elements.
1991.
8. In May and June last year members of the Legislative and Executive Councils (OMELCO) recommended that there should be one third directly elected seats in 1991 and no less than 50% directly elected seats in 1997. However the first draft of the Basic Law for Hong Kong, which China was drafting, only made provision for there to be 15 directly elected seats out of 60 in 1997.
While
this decision was not universally welcomed in Hong Kong, the great majority of people were relieved that the uncertainty was over and were keen to ensure that the 1991 elections
were a success.
9. The Chief Secretary of Hong Kong introduced the detailed proposals for the 1991 elections in March and draft
legislation to put these into effect was introduced into the Legislative Council on its last session of the year on
25 July. The proposals are currently being discussed by the Legislative Council and should be passed into law before the
FABAMZ/3
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