actions. In a further effort to take account of the Chinese
side's wish for a detailed set of criteria, the British side
put forward in Round 16 a draft of an extended oath to be
taken in 1997. The text is at Annex 5. It builds on the
Chinese side's points, and makes clear that it applies to future behaviour. The Chinese side made no response to this
proposal.
Voting Method in Legislative Council Geographical
Constituencies
55.
The Governor proposed in October 1992 that there should
be 20 members directly elected from 20 single-seat
geographical constituencies.
56. The single-seat, single-vote method is simple, and preserves a clear link between the electorate in each
constituency and their elected representative. The Hong Kong electorate is accustomed to this system of voting, which is
already used in the Municipal Council and most District Board
elections.
57. The Chinese side proposed in Round 9 of the talks that for the 20 Legislative Council geographical seats, there
should be 20 members directly elected from the existing nine
geographical constituencies using the multi-seat, single-vote
method. They refused to accept the single-seat, single-vote
method for the Legislative Council, even though they agreed
that it should be used for all Municipal Council and District
Board elections in 1994-95.
58. In the view of Her Majesty's Government and the Hong
Kong Government, the multi-seat, single-vote system would not provide a fair and open system. It would artificially freeze the constituencies as they were demarcated in 1991, taking no
account of demographic trends in Hong Kong. It also appears
statement 26.8/BRIEFS/NJH
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