third) for the Legislature in 1997.
If the policy of
convergence between the colonial and the SAR legislatures were to be maintained by the United Kingdom, this would allow for some increases in the directly elected members in the 1991 and 1995 colonial Legislative Councils. The United Kingdom decided to legislate for 18 directly elected members, instead of 10, for the 1991 elections, leaving a margin of two for an increase in 1995 in the hope, as the Foreign Secretary stated in the House of Commons, that there would be a further evolution between 1990 and 1997. A Chinese spokesman had already rejected the possibility of such a further development [51].
27. Following the exchanges in January and February 1990, the Basic Law, as adopted in April, differs from the February 1989 text in a number of respects. For its first three terms the Legislature is to be composed of a uniform 60 members. In the first term, 20 are to be directly elected, 30 elected by functional constituencies and 10 elected by "an election committee" (it is not clear whether this is the same as the "Selection Committee" which is to elect the first Chief Executive). In the second term, 24 are to be directly elected, 30 elected by functional constituencies and 6 elected by the same election committee as elects the Chief Executive. In the third term, 30 are to be directly elected and 30 elected by functional constituencies. The provisions for forming the Legislature after 2007 may be changed if the necessary amendments are endorsed by two thirds of the Legislature and the Chief Executive; changes are reported to the Standing Committee of the NPC for the record, not, as in the case of the Chief Executive, for approval. A final addition, which followed the scheme for granting British nationality to a number
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