CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
the Electoral Provisions Ordinance, has been resident in Hong Kong for the preceding 10 or more years and has a substantial connection with the relevant functional constituency may be nominated if supported by 10 electors in the constituency concerned.
A preferential elimination voting system is adopted for both electoral college con- stituencies and functional constituencies.
For the next term in 1991, the 10 single-seat electoral college constituencies at the district level will be abolished and a new system for direct elections to return 18 members from nine double-seat geographical constituencies will be introduced. The number of functional constituency seats will increase from 14 to 21, including one seat for each of the two municipal councils which will become functional constituencies. Legislative provisions for the conduct of these elections in September 1991 were introduced before the end of the year.
Advisory Committees
The network of government boards and committees is a distinctive feature of the system of government 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 and quasi-government bodies. 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 Board); statutory bodies which give advice to the government (such as the Board of Education); non-statutory bodies which give advice to a head of department (such as the Labour Advisory Board), non-statutory bodies which give advice to the government (such as the Transport Advisory Committee), and committees which are executive in nature (such as the Hong Kong Examinations Authority).
Government officials and members of the public are represented on these committees. About 5 400 members of the public are appointed to serve on a total of 441 boards and committees, and some serve on more than one of these advisory bodies. These members are appointed in view of their specialist knowledge or expertise, or their record or interest in contributing to community service. Increasing importance has been attached to the contribution they make to the formulation and execution of government policies and, in order to utilise their potential to the full, the composition and effectiveness of these bodies are regularly monitored. Where appropriate, the government broadens the cross-section of representation and encourages an inflow of new ideas through a reasonable turnover of membership.
The Administration
Role of the Chief Secretary
The Chief Secretary advises the Governor on matters of policy, and is principally responsible for its implementation. He is head of the Public Service. The Chief Secretary, together with the Financial Secretary and the Attorney General, are the Governor's principal advisers.
The Chief Secretary exercises direction primarily as head of the Government Secretariat, the central organisation comprising the secretaries of the policy branches and resource branches and their staff. Since 1902, when the office of the Lieutenant-Governor lapsed, the Chief Secretary (or his predecessor, the Colonial Secretary) has deputised for the Governor
33