CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
Electoral System for the Urban Council, Regional Council and District Boards Elections to the Urban Council, Regional Council and District Boards are on a geo- graphical constituency basis and through a broad franchise. Practically everyone who is 21 years of age or over and who is a Hong Kong permanent resident, or has been resident in Hong Kong for the preceding seven years, is eligible to apply for registration as an elector in the constituency in which he lives. An applicant should be ordinarily resident in Hong Kong at the time of application. Registration is conducted between April and June while applications for registration can be made at any time of the year. The 1992 electoral roll carried 1 933 821 names, representing 52.5 per cent of an estimated potential electorate of 3.68 million.
There are 210 constituencies, each having one or two seats for District Board elections, returning 274 District Board members. In constituencies where there are two seats (64), each elector can cast two votes. For elections to the Urban Council and Regional Council, there are 15 and 12 single-seat constituencies respectively. Election is by simple majority.
An elector must be registered under the Electoral Provisions Ordinance before he can exercise his right to vote. He 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 his nomination is supported by 10 electors in that constituency.
Electoral System for the Legislative Council
The electoral system for the Legislative Council comprises both geographical and functional constituencies. There are nine double-seat geographical constituencies returning a total of 18 members. These constituencies follow closely the boundaries of District Boards and are: Hong Kong Island East, Hong Kong Island West, Kowloon East, Kowloon Central, Kowloon West, New Territories North, New Territories South, New Territories East and New Territories West.
There are 15 functional constituencies consisting of 20 electoral divisions, which cover the commercial, industrial, finance, financial services, labour, tourism, real estate and construction, social services, medical and health care, teaching, accountancy, legal, engineering, architectural and associated professions, the municipal councils and rural sectors. They return a total of 21 members (the Labour Functional Constituency returning two members).
The franchise for Legislative Council geographical constituency elections is the same as for the direct elections to the District Boards and the municipal councils. They use the same electoral roll. For functional constituency elections, an elector can be either a corporate or an individual. An individual elector is also required to be registered as an elector for the geographical constituency elections. A corporate elector must appoint an authorised representative to vote on its behalf. The authorised representative is not allowed to represent more than one elector in the same constituency. No individual elector or authorised representative may be registered in more than one functional constituency. However, if eligible, an individual may be registered as an elector in one functional constituency and serve as an authorised representative for a corporate elector in another functional constituency. For 1992, the electoral roll for functional constituencies carried 69 976 entries, compared to the registered electorate of 69 825 in 1991.