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1995. It is still our view that an increase would be the
simplest way of expanding democracy in Hong Kong. Still hope China will reconsider its position on this;
As a secondary issue, we discussed possible composition of the Election Committee. We agreed in principle to some ideas discussed between the two sides, on two important conditions:
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- that the *five principles which we set out and your side
accepted should be reflected in the Basic Law;
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that the Basic Law should make plain the arrangements for
the Election Committee of the first LegCo of the Special
Administrative Region (and hence the one with which we would be
seeking to converge). That would ensure that Hong Kong people were clear on what the Electoral System would be).
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These conditions were not met. The five principles were not
all reflected in the BL. Nor did the BL make clear the
composition of the Election Committee for the first SAR LegCo.
Indeed the BL specifies (confusingly) that the composition spelled out for the Election Committee of the second LegCo will
not apply to that for the first LegCo;
*The five principles were:
(i) Election Committee should not be an institution of
Government.
(ii) Composition should not duplicate other LegCo
constituencies.
(iii) Election Committee should be as representative as
possible.
(iv) Procedure for nominating candidates simple, open and
prescribed by law.
(v) Voting should be by secret ballot.
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