Democracy
7.
When the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in
1984, there was no elected members of Hong Kong's
Legislative Council (LegCo). In 1985 indirect elections for
just under half the membership was introduced and, in
February 1988, after an extensive consultation exercise, the
Hong Kong Government announced that 10 directly-elected
seats would be introduced in the 1991 LegCo elections. But
after the events of June 1989 in China, a growing number of politically conscious people in Hong Kong wanted to see a more rapid rate of progress. There followed a period of
intensive negotiations between the British and Chinese
governments about the electoral provisions to be included in
the Basic Law, which sets out the constitutional
arrangements for Hong Kong after the territory reverts to
Chinese sovereignty in July 1997. As a result, the final version of the Basic Law provides for 20 directly-elected seats in the Hong Kong legislature (out of a total of 60) in
1997, and for further increases to 24 seats in 1999 and 30
seats in 2003 with the possibility of full direct elections
in 2007.
8.
Britain's aim throughout has been to establish a system of democracy which would satisfy aspirations in Hong Kong
and be capable of enduring and developing beyond 1997. It
was on this basis that the British Government decided to
introduce 18 directly-elected seats in 1991, a considerable
increase on the 10 originally proposed, and at least 20 in
1995. We believe it would have been irresponsible to devise
a system which would come to a dead end in 1997.
9. Elections for 18 directly-elected seats were held in
September 1991. This marked an important step forward in the development of democracy in Hong Kong. There was a turnout rate of 39% of registered voters and all 18 seats
were contested. The United Democrats of Hong Kong (UDHK) and their allies, led by the lawyer Mr Martin Lee, fought a
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