TNAG-2728-FCO40-3934-Hong-Kong-elections-proposed-functional-constituencies-1993 — Page 8

SECRET

XCX(93)36

Urban Council, Regional Council and Rural FCs

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We have also taken the opportunity to review the future of the Urban Council, Regional Council, and Rural FCs. The Urban Council and the Regional Council, together with the District Boards, used to comprise the Electoral College established in 1985 to return 12 Legislative Council Members. When the Electoral College was abolished in 1991 with the introduction of direct geographical elections, the two Municipal Councils were allowed to retain their seats on the grounds that their Legislative Council representatives would form a part of the "system of links between the three tiers of representative government". As for the Rural FC, its constituents are Heung Yee Kuk members. This FC was created in 1991 after years of lobbying by the Kuk. It was intended to represent the interests of New Territories indigenous villagers at the level of the Legislative Council. As there were no suitable generic description of these Legislative Council constituencies, they were arbitrarily classified as "functional constituencies".

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Among the 21 existing FCs, these three FCs have the smallest electorate. Currently, the Urban Council FC has 40 eligible electors, the Regional Council FC 36, and the Rural FC 139. This compares with, for example, an electorate of 2 600 for the First Commercial FC, and an electorate of 5 000 for the Accountancy FC.

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Following a recent review, we have come to the view that the three FCs should be abolished as from 1995 for the following reasons -

(a)

(b)

there is widespread community concern over narrow- based FCs. Small franchise is particularly prone to abuse and corruption, as evidenced in the Gilbert LEUNG case. In this connection, Members may wish to be aware that although Leung was charged with offering bribes to two Regional Councillors, we had intelligence that in fact a much greater number of Councillors were implicated;

an underlying rationale of the FC system is to provide representation in the Legislative Council for major professional and economic sectors. These three FCs, however, do not represent any professional or economic sector;