CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
21 years-of-age or over, and who is a Hong Kong permanent resident or has ordinarily resided 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. A statutory registration exercise is conducted between April and June each year, although applications for registration can be made at any time of the year. The 1993 electoral roll carried 1944 680 names, representing 52.4 per cent of an estimated potential electorate of 3.71 million.
There are 210 constituencies, each with one or two seats, for district board elections, returning 274 district board members. In the 64 constituencies where there are two seats, each elector can cast two votes. For elections to the Urban Council and the Regional Council, there are 15 and 12 single-seat constituencies, respectively. Elections to the district boards and the municipal councils are by simple majority.
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 ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for the preceding 10 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 - two on Hong Kong Island, three in Kowloon and four in the New Territories, returning a total of 18 members. Elections for geographical constituencies are by simple majority, and each elector can cast two votes.
There are 15 functional constituencies consisting of 20 electoral divisions, which cover the commercial, industrial, finance and financial services, labour, tourism, real estate and construction, social services, medical and health care, teaching, accountancy, legal, engineering, architectural, surveying and planning, municipal council and rural sectors. They return a total of 21 members (with the labour functional constituency returning two members). A preferential elimination voting system is used for the functional constituencies.
The franchise for Legislative Council geographical constituency elections is the same as for the elections to the district boards and the municipal councils. They use the same electoral roll. For functional constituency elections, the electorate is made up of either individual or corporate electors, or a mixture of both. An individual elector in a functional constituency is also required to be a registered elector for the geographical constituency elections. A corporate elector which wishes to vote at a functional constituency election is required to nominate an authorised representative to vote on its behalf. An authorised representative is not allowed to represent more than one elector in the same functional constituency, and no individual elector or authorised representative is allowed to be registered in more than one functional constituency. In 1993, the electoral roll for functional constituencies carried 70 400 entries, representing 61.7 per cent of an eligible electorate of 114031.
The qualifications for candidature in geographical constituency elections are the same as in the district board and municipal council elections. In functional constituency elections, a candidate must have, in addition, a substantial connection with the relevant functional
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