TNAG-2718-FCO40-3924-Hong-Kong-electoral-provisions-and-arrangements-1993 — Page 236

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Miss

Marry Hanks for this valuable note. Pl

Convert it into a

One side annex,

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M BARR 1993

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HONG KONG: THE ELECTORAL TIMETABLE

1.

Stati.

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You asked me to see if I could identify any clear deadlines on the basis of material already available to us in London. What follows does not take account of the time needed for legislation, but looks only at the time required for the necessary administrative arrangements. The Governor's package of proposals contains a number of different elements and the practical deadlines are not the same in every case.

2.

3.

There are 3 sets of elections involved:

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for the District Boards (in September 1994);

for the Municipal Councils (in March 1995); and

for the Legislative Council (in September 1995).

Two of the most controversial proposals, ie those which concern the Election Committee and the new functional constituencies, are relevant only to the LegCo elections. In practice this means that decisions and legislation on these could be postponed until the autumn of 1994. Starting from scratch the administrative arrangements might well take 5-6 months.

4. The proposals which require a more urgent decision are those which need to be in place in time for the District Board elections. These include:

the minimum voting age: needs to be agreed to allow time for electoral registers to be compiled as accurately and comprehensively as possible. This could take approximately 4-5 months, so legislation would need to be in place by April 1994;

the voting system: would need to be decided on by about July 1994 at the latest;

the drawing up of boundaries: would need to be completed before electoral registers could be published. A lengthy process of some 8-9 months, which would mean starting work in July 1993.

elec.time.PR.JRB

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