T
2
010-20
CODE RAD
CODE RAD
Mr Bunten HKD
UNCLASSIFIED
STELLOX lot
Reference.
the situation is still fairly unclean fut this gives is
bette idea of how the durere ruing it
HONG KONG DEPUTIES TO THE NPC AND THE CPPCC
1.
1517/1
We spoke. I discuss below the system for elections to the NPC and the CPPCC. I am afraid it does not throw a great deal of light on how the deputies "representing" Hong Kong on these two bodies are actually chosen. What does appear is that in neither case is it necessary to hold any sort of related activity actually in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong deputies to the NPC form part of the Guangdong province delegation. Those to the CPPCC form a distinct group of "Hong Kong and Macao compatriots" but, as you will see, the CPPCC is a self electing body.
The National People's Congress
2.
Thus
Deputies to the People's Congresses at County and equivalent level are elected directly by the voters. Deputies to the People's Congresses at other levels (essentially the provincial level and thereafter the national level) are elected indirectly by the People's Congress of the level immediately below them. deputies to the National People's Congress are elected by the provincial People's Congresses (and in Hong Kong's case by Guangdong Provincial People's Congress). However, those elected as deputies by a particular People's Congress do not themselves have to be deputies at that Congress. Article 29 of the Electoral Law states that:" When the local people's congresses at and above county level elect deputies to the people's congresses at the next higher level, the candidates nominated as deputies shall not be confined to the deputies of the respective people's congresses themselves". In other words there is no need for the deputies representing Hong Kong to have gone through any previous form of direct or indirect election to be eligible for election as a deputy to the NPC. According to Article 26 however, candidates for deputies to People's Congresses should be "nominated on the basis of constituencies or electoral units". In Hong Kong's case, this presumably need mean nothing more than that they are said to represent Hong Kong. Article 26 goes on to say that: "the CCP, various democratic parties, and various mass organisations may either jointly or individually recommend their candidates for deputies. Any group of voters or deputies made up of 10 people or more may jointly recommend their candidates for deputies." There is thus no problem for the Chinese authorities in recommending (via the CCP or whatever other Party or mass organisation they please) an appropriate number of Hong Kong figures for election as deputies to the NPC. The formal procedure is then (Article 28): deputies to the people's congress at the next higher level are elected by the respective people's congresses at and above the county level, the name lists of candidates nominated by the various political parties and various mass organisations shall be collected by the presidia of the people's congresses at the respective levels
"When
UNCLASSIFIED