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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 number of proposals for the September 1994 district board elections, the March 1995 municipal council elections and the September 1995 Legislative Council elections. The proposals were to ensure that the elections were held in an open and fair manner, and were acceptable to the people of Hong Kong.
The Governor reiterated in his policy address in October 1993 the hope of the British Government that legislation be introduced on these proposals on the basis of an agreement with the People's Republic of China. However, despite 17 rounds of talks between April and December 1993, Britain and China were unable to reach agreement. To provide slightly more time for the talks to continue on the more difficult issues, draft legislation on the more straightforward and immediate issues relating to the elections was introduced into the Legislative Council on December 15, 1993.
The Electoral Provisions (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Bill 1993 provided for the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 for all three tiers of elections; the adoption of the ‘single-seat, single-vote' voting method for the district board, municipal council and Legislative Council geographical constituency elections; the abolition of appointed district board and municipal council membership; and an increase in the number of elected municipal council seats (from 15 to 32 for the Urban Council, and from 12 to 27 for the Regional Council).
The Bill also proposed permitting, as proposed by the Chinese side during the talks, Hong Kong residents who were members of Chinese People's Congresses at various levels to serve in the Legislative Council, municipal councils and district boards. The Bill was passed by the Legislative Council on February 24, 1994.
Although the British side had made clear to the Chinese side that they were prepared to continue, in the limited time remaining, talks on the outstanding, more difficult issues covering functional constituencies, the election committee and the 'through-train' arrange- ment (which would allow members of the Legislative Council elected in 1995 to remain in the legislature through 1997 for their full four-year term) the Chinese side demanded that the Electoral Provisions (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Bill 1993 must first be withdrawn before talks could resume. The British side found the demand unacceptable. No further talks were, therefore, held.