Candidates would not have to be members of the EC, but would

have to come from the relevant sector. The election of

these three candidates in each sector would be by block

vote, using a simple majority system. All members of the

Election Committee would then elect 10 of the 12 to become

members of the Legislative Council by simple majority.

61. In the view of Her Majesty's Government and the Hong Kong Government the Chinese side's proposals do not meet the essential requirements and would not therefore provide a fair

and open method of election.

62.

Following precisely the composition for the fourth sector

set out in paragraph 2 of Annex 1 of the Basic Law raises two

problems. First, the Basic Law model includes members of the

present Legislative Council, not all of whom have been elected.

Second, it includes the Hong Kong Deputies to the National

People's Congress and representatives of Hong Kong members of

the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. These

people have not been elected openly and fairly in Hong Kong; to include them in the Election Committee simply by virtue of their

membership of these non-Hong Kong bodies would be a major breach

of the requirement that the Election Committee should be

composed of people who had themselves been elected openly and

fairly in Hong Kong. It would mean that part of the Election Committee was produced in an undemocratic way.

63.

The voting method proposed by the Chinese side is

self-evidently restrictive and cumbersome.

64. Following the Foreign Secretary's meeting with the Chinese

Foreign Minister in July 1993, the British side introduced in

Round Eight of the talks a revised proposal on the Election

Committee. In a major move towards the Chinese position, this accepted that the Election Committee should be composed of four

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