22
CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
of a number of district board constituencies in the urban areas. The new Regional Council will have 12 constituencies, each covering a number of district board constituencies in non-urban areas. In total, there are 237 elected district board members and 15 elected Urban Councillors, and the Regional Council will have 12 elected members.
An elector may vote only in the constituency in which he has been registered. He may, however, stand for election to the Urban Council, the Regional Council or a district board in any constituency, provided he has been resident in Hong Kong for the preceding 10 or more years and that his nomination is supported by 10 electors in that constituency. Voting is by simple majority. Elections are held on a three-year cycle.
Electoral System for the Legislative Council
A new system for indirect elections to return unofficial members to the Legislative Council was introduced in 1985 as part of the further development of representative government in Hong Kong.
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The franchise for Legislative Council elections is necessarily restrictive. An elector must be a member of an organisation which forms part of the relevant constituency; where an elector may be eligible for more than one functional constituency he can, however, register in only one. However, if eligible, an individual may be registered to vote both in the electoral college and in the functional constituency to which he belongs. An elector who is not an individual must nominate an individual to be its authorised representative to vote at an election. Out of an eligible electorate of 434 in the electoral college constituencies, 433 have become registered. The number of electors registered in the functional constituencies was 46 645, representing about two-thirds of an estimated eligible electorate of 68 900.
The rules for candidature are simple: for an electoral college constituency, any person who is a registered elector under the Electoral Provisions Ordinance (and not necessarily be an elector in any electoral college constituency) and who has been resident in Hong Kong for the preceding 10 or more years may be nominated if supported by five electors in that constituency. For a functional constituency, any individual who is a registered elector under the Electoral Provisions Ordinance, has been resident in Hong Kong for the preceding 10 or more years and is substantially connected with a relevant functional constituency may be nominated if supported by 10 electors in the constituency concerned. In the elections held in September, a total of 39 candidates received nominations in the 12 electoral colleges; one was elected unopposed and the remaining 38 candidates contested the other 11 seats. Of the 409 electors in the contested constituencies, 404 cast their vote. A total of 25 candidates received nominations for the 12 functional constituency seats; five were elected unopposed and the remaining 20 candidates contested the other seven seats. Of the 43 076 electors in the contested functional constituencies, 24 806 cast their vote, a turnout of 57.6 per cent.
An absolute majority system of voting was introduced to ensure the return of candidates who commanded the greatest support of their electorate.
Advisory Committees
The network of government boards and committees is a distinctive feature of the system of government in the territory which seeks to obtain, through consultation with interested groups in the community, the best possible advice on which to base decisions. Thus advisory bodies of one kind or another are found in nearly all government departments. In general, advisory bodies may be divided into five categories: statutory bodies which give advice to a head of department (such as the Endangered Species Advisory Committee);