essential to future confidence and prosperity. It was therefore proposed that the present informal system of selecting Unofficial members of the Legislative Council from functional constituencies should be developed into a formal representative system for the election of one or more representatives from each functional constituency to serve on the Legislative Council. It was also proposed that these arrangements should be introduced progressively, with six Unofficial members being elected by functional constituencies in 1985 and 12 in 1988. 13. A further detailed examination has been conducted to identify functional constituencies with the object of ensuring that those major sectors of the community having common social, economic and occupational interests are represented. It has been concluded that these would be best served initially by the election of 12 members from nine constituencies, namely commercial, industrial, financial, labour, social services, education, legal, medical, and engineers and associated professions.
14. The main guidelines which have been applied in determining the com- position of these functional constituencies and eligibility to vote in them are as follows:
15.
(a) In the case of economic and social constituencies, these will be based on well-recognized major organizations, associations, and institutions with a territory-wide coverage. The lists of the voting members of these organizations will be adopted as the electoral rolls for these consti- tuencies. Corporate members will nominate representatives to vote on their behalf.
(b) In the case of professional constituencies, these will be based on membership of those professions with well-established and recognized qualifications. The electoral rolls for these constituencies will be based on either the membership lists of the various major professional bodies and institutions or on the statutory registers of members of those professions.
Further details of the composition of the functional constituencies which have been identified and the number of seats to be allocated to them are given in Appendix B.
16. The electoral rolls will be published initially in the normal way as provisional rolls and thereafter as definitive or final rolls. Provision will be made for annual revision of the electoral rolls in the case of functional constituency organizations by notification by them of any additions or deletions to their membership lists, but for the names of those nominated to represent corporate bodies to be varied at any time by advice in writing to the Registration Officer; and also for the constituencies to be defined and for the seats in each constituency to be declared by Order. It is otherwise proposed that the provisions dealing with the nomination of candidates, the lodgement of nomination papers, the voting procedure and conduct of elections, the pro-
cessing of election appeals and so on should be as in the existing Electoral Provisions Ordinance and associated legislation applicable to the Urban Council and District Board elections.
17. As in the case of the electoral college constituencies the qualifications for nomination as a functional constituency candidate will be that the nomince shall have registered as a voter on the general clectoral roll and have resided in Hong Kong for the ten years immediately prior to the date of his nomination and, additionally, the nominee shall also have registered as a voter for that constituency. It will also be necessary to be a registered voter on the general electoral roll to qualify as a voter in a functional constituency.
18. Consultations will be held with the organizations and professional bodies which will make up the functional constituencies, with a view to working out detailed arrangements for the 1985 elections.
Appointed Unofficial Members
19. It was proposed in the Green Paper that the number of appointed Unofficial members should be reduced progressively to 23 in 1985 and 16 in 1988. Public comment on this proposal varied widely from support for the retention of appointed Unofficial members indefinitely to suggestions that they should be removed from the Council completely as soon as possible.
20. If an element of continuity is to be maintained in the Legislative Council it would be unwise to reduce appreciably or too hastily the number of appointed members at this stage, for their experience in the workings of the Council should not be lost. The introduction of 24 elected members into a Council of the present size would require a significant reduction in the number of appointed Unofficial members. It has therefore been decided to increase the overall size of the Council to 56 and to reduce the number of appointed Unofficial members to 22 in 1985. The increase in the overall size of the Council is supported by the public view that the Council should be larger in order to meet the wide and diverse needs of present-day Hong Kong.
Official Members
21. It was proposed in the Green Paper that the three ex-officio members of the Legislative Council, the Chief Secretary, the Financial Secretary and the Attorney General, should remain on the Council, but that the overall number of Official members should be reduced progressively to 13 in 1985 and ten in 1988. 22. The general view was in favour of this proposal. It is now intended that the reduction to ten will take place in 1985 in line with the increase in the number of elected members. This will still allow for a reasonable number of officials to remain in the Legislative Council at this stage to assist in the conduct of the business of the Council.
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