Fears have been expressed that as there will be little unity and familiarity among members of the proposed electoral college some factions could capture all the seats offered. A more substantial criticism has been that if the Unofficial members elected by the electoral college are
are elected on the basis of a single list by the college as a whole, this might result in uneven representation on a geographical basis. To avoid this situation some commentators have proposed that the members of the electoral college should be divided into regional groups based on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, or groups of districts, and that each group should elect number
a
of Unofficial members
members in proportion to the population of that region or group of districts.
16
Another proposal has been made that the Urban Council and the Regional Council members of the electoral college should each elect one Unofficial member of the Legislative Council.
17
Some of the
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more analytical and persuasive commentators have argued that a larger number of Unofficial members should be elected by the electoral college to represent the various geographic constituencies the Urban Council, the Heung Yee Kuk, the rural committees, the District Boards, and the new Regional Council and that arrangements should be made to ensure that, as far as possible, they are all adequately represented by the electoral college.
18
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In view of the comments at paragraphs 12 to 17 above it is proposed to build on the proposals in the Green Paper to achieve a more balanced and adequate representation by dividing the District Board members of the electoral college into ten district groups, each representing roughly 500,000 people, and two separate groups for the Urban Council and Regional Council members. (The interests of the Heung Yee Kuk will be represented through the Regional Council
Council group). This will result in 12 Unofficial
12 Unofficial members of the Legislative Council being elected by the electoral college in 1985 instead of six as originally proposed. In 1988 the district groups could be further sub-divided to produce more members and they might, in due course, provide a useful framework on constituency-based direct elections could be introduced. Such sub-divisions, with a population of
population of about 250,000 would be about the size of an Urban Council constituency and twice the size of a UK parliamentary constituency.
which
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