lively and successful campaign based on a call for faster democracy. The UDHK won 12 of the seats and 45% of the
vote. Most of the successful candidates in the functional
constituency elections (21 seats) were independents without
political affiliation. The remaining 21 members consist of 18 appointed by the Governor from a wide range of different backgrounds and 3 officials. The next Legislative Council
due in 1995 will be all-elected, with no appointed or
official members.
10. We have said that we shall want to discuss arrangements
for the 1995 Legislative Council elections with the Chinese
side, with the aim of ensuring as much continuity as
possible. If it is to run its full 4-year term to 1999, it will need to be consistent with the Basic Law (see para 7).
Before we talk to the Chinese Mr Patten will want to discuss
these matters widely in Hong Kong and then put his advice to
Ministers. This is likely to take some time.
Political Parties
11.
Indigenous political parties are relatively recent to Hong Kong; they came into being in order to contest the first direct elections to the Legislative Council (LegCo) in September 1991. Before that, political groups operated at
local level or to lobby on specific issues.
12. The largest, and most successful party is the United
Democrats of Hong Kong (UDHK), the so-called liberals. They
won 45% of the vote and 12 of the 18 directly-elected seats,
with 4 of the rest going to other "liberal" candidates.
Business interests were represented by the Liberal
Democratic Federation (LDF), which won 5% of the vote and no
seats. Pro-China groups won just under 8% of the vote and
no seats. The remaining 2 seats (17.5% of the vote) went to independent candidates.
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