CONFIDEN TIAL
21.
The Regional Council to be
have 36 members.
constituencies;
Chairman and
ex
constituted
on 1 April 1986 will
12 members will be directly elected by
The
a further 12 will be appointed by the Governor.
two Vice-chairmen of the Heung Yee Kuk will be members
officio, and the nine District Boards in the New Territories will
each elect from among their own members one further councillor. In
April 1985 a provisional Regional Council of appointed members and
District Board representatives was established to allow working
experience to be gained before the Regional Council comes in to
being.
(d) Legislative Council
22.
at
Green
The se reforms considerably enhanced representative government
the district, urban and regional level. In November 1984, having
sought and received public commen t on proposals contained in a
Paper, the Hong Kong Government published a White Paper setting out
the steps to be taken in 1985 to develop representative government
at the central level.
The proposals in the White Paper were
endorsed by the Legislative Council in January 1985. The principal
reforms concerned the Legislative Council, to which 24 members would
be chosen for the first time by indirect elections; 12 were to be
elected by electoral colleges comprising all members of the District
Boards, the Urban Council and the new Regional Council, and 12 by
specific functional constituencies covering the major sectors of the
community.
The total membership of the Legislative Council,
excluding the President (the Governor) was increased from 46 to 56
members, with official membership decreasing
from 16 to 10, and
unofficial appointed membership decreasing from 30 to 22.
addition a review was promised for 1987 to consider whether and
So what further changes should take place in 1988. This, together
with the proposal to introduce 24 indirectly elected
members,
differed from the proposals in the Green Paper, where a review in
1989 and the introduction of only 12 indirectly elected members were
suggested. There changes demonstrated the willingness of the Hong
Kong Government to respond to constructive public comment.
In
i f
8
CONFIDENTIAL
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