TNAG-1288-FCO40-1639-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1984 — Page 159

Unofficial members to be elected from within these constituencies to the Legislative Council.

In the case of the geographical constituencies. it is proposed that an electoral college should be established consisting of all the elected and appointed unofficial members of the Urban Council, the Regional Council and the District Boards, which would elect a specified number of members of the Legislative Council. In the case of the functional constituencies it will be necessary to define clearly those constituencies which should be invited to elect representatives to the Legislative Council and to devise appropriate means of conducting those elections.

27. Suggestions have been made that direct elections to the Legislative Council, on a universal franchise, based on either constituencies or a single list, should be introduced now. Direct elections have emerged or been introduced as a standard feature of the governmental system in many countries where they have proved well suited to the society they serve. They have not, however, been universally successful as a means of ensuring stable representative government. In some cases the political preparation for direct elections has been inadequate; in others their form did not allow them to take root in the customs of the host society; and in consequence they have not endured or have failed to receive adequate support from the population at large. In the case of Hong Kong it is clearly essential that the stability and relative harmony of the community, which has been built up over a long period, should be preserved, particularly at this time; that the special political circumstances of Hong Kong should be taken into account; and that full weight should be given to representation of the economic and professional sectors of Hong Kong society which are essential to future confidence and prosperity. Direct elections would run the risk of a swift introduction of adversarial politics, and would introduce an element of instability at a crucial time. Hong Kong has had no experience of direct or indirect elections to the central organs of government, and constituency based elections even at regional and district level are a relatively new feature of political life in the territory.

28. It has also been suggested that directly elected members should be introduced, a few at a time, into the Council. Since it would not be possible to treat some parts of Hong Kong differently from the others in the matter of representation, members would have to be elected on the basis of either a single list or constituencies covering the whole of the territory. In the latter case, if there were only a few members in the initial stages, their constituencies would have to be very large indeed. Such a system would therefore not only run the risk of introducing direct elections prematurely, but would do so on the basis of constituencies so large that the ability of one member to represent them would be called seriously into question.

29. Thus it is considered that the introduction of direct elections to the Legislative Council would not be appropriate at the present time, although in

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