TNAG-2719-FCO40-3925-Hong-Kong-electoral-provisions-and-arrangements-1993 — Page 116

CONFIDENTIAL

700

154630

MDHIAN 9286

(78)

CONFIDENTIAL

FM HONG KONG

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

TELNO 1616

MUB 011

Z

DAY

OF 15085OZ OCTOBER 1993

INFO IMMEDIATE PEKING, UKREP JLG HONG KO

вс

SOPY

DIST

Our Telno 1407, Peking Telno 1335 and your Telno 872: Boundary and Election Commission (BEC)

Summary

(90)

We plan to bring into operation on 22 October the parts of the BEC Ordinance relating to the BEC's function to conduct and supervise elections so as to enable the BEC to organise a coming District Board (DB) by-election. Further delay might in the circumstances undermine BEC's credibility and perceived independence. Propose to inform the Chinese beforehand.

Detail

2. Following its enactment, the part of the BEC Ordinance which provided for the BEC to prepare recommendations on geographical constituency boundaries was brought into operation on 23 July to enable the Commission to start work on DB and Municipal Council constituencies. As for the remaining parts of the Ordinance which mainly provided for the BEC to organise elections, we had originally planned to defer their coming into operation until the talks with the Chinese had been completed (our TUR). This was predicated on the assumption that no elections or by-elections were scheduled in the near future.

3.

The above assumption fell away following the recent resignation of an elected Sha Tin DB member which necessitated a by-election. Preparatory work for the by-election, scheduled to be held on 5 December, would have to start very soon, beginning with the publication of a notice of vacancy on 22 October.

4.

in the circumstances, our assessment is that we have no options but to bring the remaining parts of the BEC Ordinance into operation to enable the BEC to take over responsibilities for organising the coming by-election. The reasons for this are twofold. First, given that the BEC has already been established for three months and is functioning smoothly, it would be difficult to explain to the public why it should be denied the responsibility for organising the coming by-election. Secondly, if status quo

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CONFIDENTIAL