TNAG-1716-FCO40-2396-Hong-Kong-1987-Review-of-Representative-Government-1988 — Page 77

G.F. 316

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It

of Hong Kong's system of representative government.

would be welcomed by the community and

and would be

conducive to the maintenance of stability.

28.

On the question of timing, the Government has

concluded that it would not be right

not be right to make such a

major constitutional change in 1988, given that

opinions in the community on this issue are so clearly

divided. The argument that the Legislative Council

should continue for one more term with its present

forms of membership, rather than undergo a second

restructuring in three years, is strong. However,

there are also good reasons for leaving sufficient time

before 1997 for

for the new form of election to become

firmly established.

decided

to

The Government has therefore

introduce a number of directly elected

Members into the Legislative Council in 1991.

29.

The Government believes that direct elections

are best carried out on the basis of single-seat

geographical constituencies. This raises the question

of what happens to the present geographically-based

electoral college seats. It is difficult to see any

advantage in having two parallel systems of

geographical representation in the Legislative Council,

operating both directly and through District Boards.

That would mean having Members elected on a

basis by both direct and indirect

geographical

methods.

I n

addition,

having two types of

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