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(B) The Governor's Challenge: Extend Democracy within the Basic Law
When Governor Patten arrived in Hong Kong in July, 19927 his first major task was to spell out arrangements for the 1995 legislative elections. His task was to fashion a system for electing the 1995 Legislative Council (Legco) that would survive the transition to PRC rule in 1997 and continue to the end of its designated term in 1999 (the so-called "through train"). To do so, he designed a system that was consistent with the Basic Law, the "mini-constitution" for the HKSAR drafted under Chinese auspices and passed by China's National People's Congress in April, 1990; due to take effect July 1, 1997. The Basic Law model called for the first HKSAR Legco (1997-99) to consist of 20 directly elected seats, the same 21 functional constituency seats elected in 1991, nine (9) new functional constituency seats, and ten (10) seats elected by a newly formed electoral commission, for a total of sixty (60)
seats.
In his first policy address on October 7, 1992, Governor Patten acknowledged that the pace of democratization is "necessarily constrained" but not "stopped dead in its tracks." Since the Basic Law did not spell out the composition of the Election Committee for the first HKSAR legislature or the ning new functional constituencies, the Governor put forward a proposal to make these bodies more democratically elected. The two most notable elements were: (a) that the Election Committee draw "all or most of its members from the (newly) directly elected District Boards" and (b) that the definition of the nine new functional seats include the entire working population of 2.7 million workers,
Other elements of the electoral reform package included abolition of all appointed seats to the District Boards and the two Municipal Councils; giving the existing 21 functional constituencies a broader base by replacing all forms of corporate voting with individual voters; lowering the voting age from 21 to 18; institution of a single vote, single seat voting system; and the establishment of a Boundary and Election Commission. The Governor stated that all his proposals were compatible with the Basic Law. He emphasized these were proposals, not a final program. The Governor invited the Chinese to make counterproposals.
(C) China Denounces Patten Proposals
Following the Governor's speech, the Chinese government rejected the proposals, particularly those for the Election Committee and the nine new functional seats, which it argued were in violation of the Joint Declaration, the Basic Law, and bilateral agreements and understandings between the Chinese and British Foreign Ministers. The Chinese insisted that the Governor abandon his proposals, maintaining that the crux of
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