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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
Electoral System for the Urban Council and District Boards A new system based on electoral constituencies will be introduced for both the Urban Council and district board elections. For the Urban Council elections, the urban areas will be divided into 15 constituencies, each of which will return one elected member to the council. An elected Urban Council member will also have a seat provided for him on the district board relating to his constituency. For the 18 district board elections, the whole of Hong Kong will be divided into 122 constituencies - 76 in the urban areas and 46 in the New Territories - each of which will have one elected member to its district board (there are however 10 constituencies in the New Territories which will return two elected members each).
Elections to both the Urban Council and district boards will be held on a three-year cycle, but in different years. The first district board elections will be held in the New Territories in March 1982 and in the urban areas in September 1982. The next elections for all district boards will be in March 1985. The franchise for both the Urban Council and district board elections is the same. It includes all persons over 21 years of age who have been resident in Hong Kong for more than seven years. Registration of electors is voluntary and is conducted annually. Each elector may have one vote for each seat contested in his constituency.
Any elector who has been resident in Hong Kong for more than 10 years can also be nominated by 10 electors in a constituency as a candidate for election.
Urban Council
The Urban Council is a body corporate and derives its authority from the Urban Council Ordinance. It is responsible for managing its own finance and is the only body taking part in the business of government in Hong Kong to consist solely of members of the public. The council meets in public once a month, but most of its business is decided by the Standing Committee of the Whole Council, 12 select committees and 13 sub-committees, boards and panels.
Under the present system, the Urban Council consists of 24 members, 12 being appointed by the Governor and 12 being elected. The term of office for both appointed and elected members is four years, but a member may be re-appointed or re-elected for a further term. The chairman is elected by the council and can be an appointed member, or an elected member. In keeping with the spirit of the district administration scheme, interim arrange- ments have been made for the council to be represented on the district boards in the urban areas; that is, until elections are held under the new system to the council. Two or four seats have been provided on each of the urban district board for the present 24 appointed and elected members of the Urban Council. The first board was formed in Kwun Tong in April 1981 and all the boards are expected to be formed by March 1982.
Under the new scheme, the Urban Council will be increased in April 1983 to 30 members, 15 being appointed by the Governor and 15 being elected. The term of office for both appointed and elected members is three years, but a member may be re-elected or re-appointed for a further term. The chairman and vice-chairman are elected by the council from among its members.
The first election to the council on a constituency basis will be held in March 1983. Of the 10 districts in the urban areas, the five larger districts (Eastern, Kowloon City, Kwun Tong, Sham Shui Po and Wong Tai Sin), with a population of about 500 000 will be divided into two Urban Council constituencies each and the other five (Central and Western, Southern, Wan Chai, Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei) will become one constituency each.