TNAG-1750-FCO40-2470-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1988 — Page 156

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preference votes, in order to reduce the chances of other candidates gaining more votes overall. The preferential 'elimination' system, practised more widely elsewhere in the world, was suggested as a replacement.

143 The ‘elimination' system, which also requires voters to mark preferences, differs from the 'addition' system in that higher preferences are given more weight than lower ones. The candidate with the fewest first preference votes is eliminated after the first count and his votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates, according to the second preferences marked on them. These are then aggregated with the first preference totals of the remaining candidates and a winner is declared if the leading candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the votes. If no winner is declared, the candidate with the lowest aggregate total is eliminated and his votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates according to the third preferences marked on them. The process is repeated until the leading candidate polls over 50 per cent of the votes. Taking the example in paragraph 142 above, candidate C who had the fewest first preference votes would be eliminated after the first count, and the ten ballot papers which show him as the first preference would then be redistributed to candidates A and B, according to the second preferences marked on them. Assuming that six of these ballot papers

show candidate A as the second preference, then candidate A wins. 144. It was suggested that this 'elimination' system was preferable to the 'addition' system on the following grounds:

(a) it would give greater weight to higher preferences, thereby reducing

the degree of 'compromise' in the selection process; and

(b) it would remove an incentive for candidates to encourage their supporters to mark down first preferences only (see paragraph 142 above). This would reduce the scope for manipulation as well as the possibility that no candidate obtains more than 50 per cent of the total

votes cast.

145. Although, in practice, no particular problems arose from the preferential 'addition' system of voting in the functional constituency elections in 1985, there appears to be a case for considering whether it should be changed to the preferential 'elimination' system or some other system.

The electoral college

146. For the electoral college elections to the Legislative Council in 1985, the repeated ballot system was used whereby, if no candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the votes on the first count, electors vote again in another round following elimination of the candidate with the least first round votes. Ballots are repeated until one candidate obtains the majority support of his constituency.

147. There were two main criticisms of the system. The first was the length of time taken to secure a result in constituencies where several candidates were running: for example, it took seven hours and five ballots to secure a result in

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