TNAG-1717-FCO40-2397-Hong-Kong-1987-Review-of-Representative-Government-1988 — Page 167

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Introduction of Direct Elections

10.

Having taken account of all the factors considered above, the Government has concluded that the introduction of a number of directly elected Members into the

the Legislative Council before 1997 would be

be a logical and desirable further step in the development of Hong Kong's system of representative government. It would be welcomed by the community and would be conducive to the maintenance of stability.

11.

the question of timing, the Government has concluded that it would 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 the new form of election to become firmly established. The Government has therefore decided

introduce a number of directly elected Members into the Legislative Council in 1991.

12.

to

any

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 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 geographical basis by both direct and indirect methods.

In addition, having two types of geographically elected Members would involve substantially increasing the size of the Legislative Council and upsetting its overall Government has therefore decided that,

balance. The in 1991, there

should be ten directly elected seats, one from each of ten district-based constituencies, and that these should take the place of the ten seats currently filled by indirect elections from the District Boards. The remaining two electoral college seats those elected by members of the Municipal Councils will be dealt with separately.

13.

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for the conduct of the drawing up of devised over the next two

or

Detailed arrangements direct elections, including constituencies, will be devised three years.