Council of 56 (the other members being indirectly elected, ex officio and appointed members). By the end of 1989, that had become clearly unacceptable in Hong Kong in view of the fact that OMELCO were pressing for 20 members (one third of the Council) to be directly elected in 1991 and 30 (one half) in 1995.
26 The United Kingdom, therefore, sought to persuade the Chinese to agree to a faster process of democratisation in Hong Kong than was set out in the February 1989 draft with the object of increasing the proportion of directly elected members in the first SAR legislature which, in turn, would allow an increase in the number of directly elected members to be included in the Legislative Council in 1991 and 1995. In figures, this meant trying to persuade the Chinese to increase their proposal for 15 directly elected members out of a legislature of 55 in 1997 so as to permit an increase, if OMELCO'S proposals were to be realised, of from 10 to 20 in the colonial Legislative Council in 1991 and, a further increase to 30 in 1995. Given the drafting history, there was little prospect that the Chinese would agree to increase the number of directly elected members in the first SAR legislature to 30 (50%). They did, however, agree to increase the directly elected members from 15 to 20 (or one
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