XN000022-1995-06-01 — Page 8

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If one then turns to the older functional constituencies, the problem isn't quite, I think, as the Honourable Member mentioned, because the problem arises not in all the older functional constituencies but in those functional constituencies where previously there was corporate voting and we have insisted on individual voting. In the old functional constituencies where there was and remains individual voting, registration is higher, higher for doctors, higher for teachers, higher for all those other groups like engineers and accountants. I think in almost every sector the number who have actually registered to vote has increased. In some of the constituencies where there was corporate voting before, for example the one covering social welfare, the one covering labour, the number looks as though it will be higher. The problem arises in about half-a-dozen of the old functional constituencies where some Honourable Members used to complain, understandably, about the consequences of corporate voting, for example one person having the opportunity of casting many votes, and about the complications of multiple directorships.

I think that what the problems that we have encountered indicate above all, maybe that we need to look even harder at the way we explain the electoral arrangements in these constituencies. But what I think these problems with about half- a-dozen constituencies have underlined is how right we were to change the voting system where previously there was corporate voting, to individual voting. Because I think the scale of what may have been happening before is manifest when you compare the electoral registers. We have made considerable efforts in some of the industrial and commercial constituencies to which the Honourable Member referred, with Members of this Honourable Chamber, to actually encourage people to vote, and very often, I think we have not been able to succeed not because of the complexities involved but because of the fact that some of the directors of many companies haven't actually resided in Hong Kong for seven years. I think that one or two Honourable Members could give us some anecdotal evidence about what was done to register corporately in one or two constituencies in the last elections, not always with the objectives achieved that people had in mind.

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But what I emphasise what I emphasise is that where we have individual voting in those older constituencies, following on from previous individual voting, the figures look encouraging. The problem is with half-a-dozen constituencies. We've tried very hard to spread the good news about what is now available for bankers, for companies in the tourist industry, for the commercial and industrial constituencies which are represented in this Chamber, and if the results aren't as good as we would like, while I am sure that we have lessons to learn about communication, I think the real problems lie elsewhere.