THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN HONG KONG 43
constitutional changes too rapidly was widely recognised. Many people supported the proposals as being a realistic and practical framework for the development of representa- tive government at the central level during the next few years.
The White Paper
5. The purpose of this White Paper is to set out, in the light of public reaction, the government's intentions for 1985 with regard to the next stage of development of representative government in Hong Kong at the central level. The proposals in the Green Paper covered the period up to 1991. The revised plans for 1985 described in this White Paper include several of the original proposals concerning the composition of the Legislative Council in 1988.
6. In preparing the White Paper the government has recognised the need to keep in mind the provisions of the Draft Agreement on the Future of Hong Kong, and the plans have been framed accordingly.
The Electoral College
THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
7. It was proposed in the Green Paper that:
(a) the electoral college should be composed of all the elected and, to start with, all the appointed members of the Urban Council, the new Regional Council and the district boards;
(b) it should be able to elect anyone who is a registered elector on the general electoral roll and who has been ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for a minimum of 10 years, not necessarily from among its own members; and
(c) that these arrangements should be introduced progressively, with six unofficial
members being elected in 1985 and 12 in 1988.
8. There has been much comment on these proposals. One suggestion was for a single list of candidates. Another was for arrangements to be made which would ensure a reasonably balanced geographical distribution of members elected by the college. This might be achieved by dividing the members of the college into groups of districts, each of which would elect one member, with the Urban Council and Regional Council forming separate constituencies to elect one member each.
9. The government agrees that there should be a reasonably balanced geographical distribution. In consequence, in 1985, the district board members of the electoral college will be grouped into 10 geographical constituencies each based on one, two or three districts and representing roughly 500 000 people each; and members of the Urban Council and Regional Council will form two special constituencies. Thus the electoral college will return 12 unofficial members to the Legislative Council in the 1985 elections instead of the six members originally proposed in the Green Paper.
10. For the electoral college elections a list of all members of the Urban and Regional Councils and of the district boards will be published as the electoral college roll. The qualifications to be a candidate for election to the Legislative Council by the electoral college will be the same as those in the Electoral Provisions Ordinance for election to the Urban Council and the district boards, namely; a candidate must be a registered voter on the general electoral roll with a minimum of 10 years residence in Hong Kong.
11. Further details of these proposals are given at Appendix A.