would therefore have 18 directly-elected seats in 1991 and at
least 20 in 1995. He also said that Her Majesty's Government would continue to press the case for a faster pace of
democratisation.
12. The first direct elections, for these 18 seats in the Legislative Council, were therefore held in September 1991.
All 18 seats were contested. The turn-out rate was 39% of the
registered electorate of 1.9 million, higher than for any previous elections in Hong Kong. The United Democrats of Hong
Kong and others who had campaigned hard for more democracy, won
16 of the 18 seats and over 58% of the vote, a clear expression of the community's interest in greater democracy.
c) The Governor's proposals, October 1992
13. The arrival of directly-elected members of the Legislative Council in 1991 was a further important step in the democratic development of Hong Kong. When Mr Patten arrived as Governor of Hong Kong in July 1992, there was a widespread view in the community that this process should be taken further in the last cycle of elections in Hong Kong under British sovereignty: those for the District Board due in September 1994, for the Municipal Councils in March 1995
and for the Legislative Council in September 1995. There was intense speculation about the new Governor's policy on this.
The pressure of public expectations, as well as the practical need to set in place in good time the necessary arrangements for these elections, meant that the Governor had to take
action soon after his arrival.
14.
The Governor therefore set out his proposals for
political development in the years up to 1997 in his inaugural
address to the Legislative Council in October 1992 (the main
points are summarised in the Annex. They were the result of
statememt26.8/BRIEFS/NJH
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