TNAG-2599-FCO40-3787-Appointment-of-Chris-Patten-as-new-Governor-of-Hong-Kong--Ap-1992 — Page 95

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MEASURES TAKEN BY BRITAIN AFTER TIANANMEN

The first of these measures bore fruit last September when, for the first

time in history, direct elections to the Hong Kong Legislative Council

were held, with 18 of the 60 seats being thrown open to direct contests.

Of the other seats, three were occupied by senior government officials, 18

were filled by appointment and 21 by functional constituency elections.

This means that, for the first time, Hong Kong now had a legislature, the

majority of whose members were elected in one form or another. This has

resulted in the Hong Kong Government coming under closer scrutiny by the

legislature than ever before and we have begun to witness a more open and

accountable government.

Another round of elections will be held in 1995. These are crucial

because, under the "through train" concept, legislators will not only be

the last Legislative Councillors of the British colony but also the first

Legislative Councillors of the Special Administrative Region, serving

through the transition until 1999. Before that can happen, however, many

issues have to be worked out with the Chinese Government, including the

question of whether the number of directly elected legislators can be more

than 20. So far the Chinese Government has been adamant in maintaining

that the number cannot be changed and that the Basic Law cannot be amended

before 1997. If that is the case, then nine new functional constituency

seats will have to be created by 1995, as well as an Election Committee

which will return 10 seats. No decisions have yet been made on which

sectors will hold the new functional constituency seats, nor how the

Election Committee will be composed.

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