TNAG-2712-FCO40-3918-Parliamentary-relations-draft-White-Paper-on-Representative--1993 — Page 152

71. Following the Foreign Secretary's meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister in July 1993, the British side introduced a revised proposal on the Election Committee in

Round eight of the talks. This took account of the main

Chinese point by proposing that the Election Committee should

be elected by four sectors on the lines set out in Annex 1 of

the Basic Law. The first three sectors would be elected by

grouping the 30 Functional Constituencies into three groups of

ten. Electors in each Functional Constituency would then elect a number of members to the Election Committee, as well as a Functional Constituency representative to the Legislative Council. On the fourth sector, the British side proposed that it should be returned by directly-elected District Board

members. They made clear that for the reasons noted above, it

would not be appropriate for members of the 1991 Legislative

Council, or Hong Kong representatives of the NPC and CPPCC to

serve on the Election Committee simply by virtue of their membership of these bodies.

72. On voting method, the British side proposed that the

Functional Constituencies would elect the first three sectors

by the block-vote method, ie each Functional Constituency

elector would have as many votes as that Functional

Constituency returned members to the Election Committee.

Elections within the Election Committee would use the single

transferable vote method. Any registered voter would be

eligible for election by the Election Committee provided he or she secured at least five nominations by Election Committee

members.

73.

In the view of Her Majesty's Government and the Hong Kong Government, this revised proposal, although less simple than

the Governor's original proposal, would meet the essential requirements by ensuring that the Election Committee would be

statememt26.8/BRIEFS/NJH

29