TNAG-1716-FCO40-2396-Hong-Kong-1987-Review-of-Representative-Government-1988 — Page 98

G.F. 316

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68.

Some

interim adjustments to the

terms of

office of the District Boards and the Municipal

Councils are necessary to prepare for the new sequence

of elections. Accordingly, the Municipal Councils'

next term will last from April 1989 to March 1991. The

term of the District Boards beginning in March 1991

will also be adjusted so that, in

in the next set of

elections to be held after 1991, the District Board

elections will take place in August or September, i.e.

about six months before elections to the Municipal

Councils and one year before those to the Legislative

Council.

Ages of Entitlement to Vote and Eligibility for Office.

69.

There was much public interest in the issue of

the voting age and a clear majority of opinion from all

sources considered that

that it should remain at 21 years.

Many people felt that more civic education was needed

before people below that age

age would be ready for the

There was little interest in the age of

vote.

eligibility for

candidature.

Most of those who

commented believed

believed that this too should remain at 21

years.

70.

The

Government

has decided not to change

either the voting age or the age of eligibility for

office. It has, since the 1984 White Paper, stepped up

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