TNAG-2732-FCO40-3938-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1993 — Page 50

ANNEX

SECRET

HONG KONG: GOVERNOR'S INITIAL THINKING ON EXTENT OF FLEXIBILITY

The Governor's telegram 254 (attached) makes the following main points:

(i) Any changes to the Governor's proposals should be limited to the two issues which have been controversial in Hong Kong: the functional constituencies, and the composition of the Election Committee.

(ii)

On the functional constituencies:

- We should maintain the Governor's proposals for a

modest extension of the franchise in the existing 21 functional constituencies (an increase from about 100,000 to 180,000).

We should be prepared to consider some amendment of his proposals for the nine new functional

constituencies. The Governor proposed in October that the rest of the working population not covered by the existing 21 functional constituencies should all be covered by nine new constituencies formed on the basis of standard international industrial classifications (total electorate: 2.7 million). The Governor suggests that we could move back to nine new constituencies of more traditional size and composition. The details are still to be worked out, but constructing manageable and fair constituencies on traditional lines is likely to lead to a reduction in the franchise for the nine additional seats to some 750,000.

(iii) On the Election Committee:

-

The Governor's original proposal was that the Election Committee (to elect 10 members of the Legislative Council) should be composed of people who had themselves been elected. The Governor envisaged that these would be made up of directly-elected District Board members but left the door open to other suggestions. He now suggests that the composition of the Election Committee could be expanded in one of two ways:

SECRET