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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
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Arrangements for the 1994 and 1995 Elections
THE Governor announced, in his annual policy address in October 1992, a constitu- tional package to ensure that Hong Kong has a vigorous and effective executive-led government which is accountable to the legislature; to broaden the participation of the community in the conduct of Hong Kong's affairs; and to devise arrangements for the district board elections in 1994 and the Legislative Council and municipal council elections in 1995 which command the confidence and the support of the community. Many of the proposals which aimed to achieve the first two objectives were implemented during 1993.
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Regarding the 1994 and 1995 elections, it was proposed that the voting age should be lowered from 21 to 18; that corporate voting be replaced by individual voting in all the present Legislative Council functional constituencies; that every eligible member of Hong Kong's 2.7 million-strong working population be able to vote in one of the nine additional functional constituencies; that a 'single seat, single vote' voting system be adopted for all geographical constituency elections; that all appointed seats in the municipal councils and the district boards be abolished; and an Election Committee drawing all, or most, of its members from the elected district boards be established to elect up to 10 Legislative Council members in 1995.
Government representatives of Britain and the People's Republic of China started discussion in April 1993 on arrangements for the 1994 and 1995 elections. The discussions on the elections for Hong Kong's three-tier system of representative government were held in accordance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong, the principle of convergence with the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and the relevant agreements and understandings reached between Britain and China.
The British side aimed for arrangements which were fair, open and acceptable to the people of Hong Kong and, at the same time, were within the framework of the Basic Law so that continuity through 1997 could be achieved. Additionally, the British side had made clear that it was essential for the two sides to reach an agreement on the 'through train' arrangement, so that there would be clear and objective criteria for members of the Legislative Council elected in 1995 to remain in the legislature through 1997 for their full four-year term.