For information on
12 October 1993
Сори
:
No 18/10
PS/M Goodled
for I Goles Mr Hum
The clearest account
I have yet fee of
This subject.
SECRET
MKB 01/7
IN
PA
pa. Elections (011/7)
Blue Volume XXXXXVI (14)
NOTE FOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
TIME-TABLE FOR 1994-95 ELECTIONS
Pahath
18/0.
XCX(93)45 Copy No. 28
1870.
Mr Righett
Mr Bunker 18/
zofio
70.
INTRODUCTION
At the meeting of this Council on 5 October, the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs undertook to prepare a note on the deadlines for deciding on the arrangements for the 1994/95 elections, and on the reasons why it would be inadvisable to separate decisions on the MC and DB elections from those on the Legislative Council elections ("de-coupling").
OVERVIEW
2
Our analysis concludes that the overall deadline for a decision on the entire package is early December 1993, and that all legislation must be in place by July 1994. A table showing the main legislative and administrative steps leading to the 1994/95 elections is at Annex. Members are requested to note that the timing shown on the diagram is at this stage indicative only, and that in the event that talks with the Chinese break down certain legislative steps could well take longer to complete.
3
The deadlines are explained in further details in paragraphs 4- 11 below. The arguments against de-coupling are set out in paragraphs 12-17.
District Board (DB) Elections
4
Most legislation relating to the September 1994 DB elections is already in place. The BEC Ordinance sets out the basic parameters for the preparation of the elections, i.e. that the total number of elected seats shall not be substantially greater or smaller than 338; and that they would be on a single seat basis. The number of districts (18, following the merger of
Executive Council