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The BL is silent on the number or size of
electoral constituencies.
BL has not prescribed any voting system.
Fundamental for us that any voting system must be fair, open, and easily understood; and which
commands the confidence of voters and candidates. Hong Kong people familiar with SSSV in District Board and Municipal Council elections. LegCo
endorsed this system for 1995 elections when
debating the matter it in motion debate in July
last year.
The Governor's proposals are therefore entirely consistent with BL and accord with the principle of gradual and orderly progress in BL 68. They represent, in our view, the right balance between the need for compatibility with the BL and the community's aspirations for a greater say in running their own affairs. Groundless to say that his proposals are radical.
The Status of the Exchange of Letters in 1990 between the UK Foreign Secretary and Chinese Foreign Minister
It has been suggested that our proposals are in some way in
breach of undertakings given by the UK side in the 1990 diplomatic exchanges. There is no substance whatsoever in this claim. The 1990 exchanges, which have been deposited in the Library of the House, were part of our attempts to influence
the drafting of the Basic Law. Their status is no more than an exchange of diplomatic correspondence between the two sides. They do not have the status of a treaty or of any other international agreement binding in international law. This is quite clear from the form and the content of the texts. They are merely a record of a series of proposals which both sides made with inconclusive results. The only common understanding
that was reached was that the British side would limit the
number of directly elected seats in LegCo in 1991 to 18 if the final version of the Basic Law provided for 20 directly elected seats in the SAR legislature in 1997, 24 in 1999 and 30 in
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