The Composition of the Legislative Council
23. The composition of the Legislative Council in 1985 and 1988 proposed in the Green Paper was as follows:
wil Unoffic toral c
types
1985
1988
might
(a) Elected by electoral college
6
12
27. T
(h) Elected by functional constituencies (c) Appointed by the Governor
6
12
23
16
(d) Official members
13
10
and the before an opp
such qu
Total
1,48
50
28. Si
24. As a result of the changes which have been made to the original proposals, the composition of the Council in 1985 will now be as set out below. The additional seats required to cater for the increase in elected membership have been partially offset by a small reduction in seats for Appointed and Official members.
(a) Elected by electoral college
(b) Elected by functional constituencies (c) Appointed by the Governor
(d) Official members
the Leg
been ar
the new
public
will als
raised i
1985
conside
12
12
2222
10
Total
56
Direct Elections
25. The relative merits of direct and indirect elections attracted considerable public interest and comment. However there was little evidence of support in public comment on the Green Paper for any move towards direct elections in 1985. With few exceptions the bulk of public response from all sources sug- gested a cautious approach with a gradual start by introducing a very small number of directly elected members in 1988 and building up to a significant number of directly elected members by 1997. Proposals that the Legislative Council's Unofficial members should all be returned by direct elections were in the minority. There was considerable general public concern that too rapid progress towards direct elections could place the future stability and prosperity of Hong Kong in jeopardy. In summary, there was strong public support for the idea of direct elections but little support for such elections in the immediate future.
The Review
26. It was proposed in the Green Paper that a review should take place in 1989, after the second elections to the Legislative Council had been held in 1988,
8
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Private notes are available after approval.