ENG-1988 — Page 50

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

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At the District Board elections held in March 1988, 493 candidates stood for election to the 264 seats in the 157 constituencies. Thirty-four were elected unopposed. Of the 1 401 690 electors in the contested constituencies, 424 201 cast their votes, giving a turnout of 30.3 per cent.

Electoral System for the Legislative Council

The system for indirect election to the Legislative Council was introduced in 1985 and involves an electoral college and nine functional constituencies. The electoral college comprises two special constituencies, that is, the Urban Council and the Regional Council, and 10 district board constituencies, each returning one member to the Legislative Council. The functional constituencies, covering the commercial, industrial, financial, labour, social services, medical, legal, teaching and engineering and associated professions sectors, also return a total of 12 members. For the second term starting in 1988, two additional seats have been provided in the functional constituencies for the accountancy and the health care professions.

The franchise for Legislative Council elections is prescribed as follows: for the electoral college, an elector must be a member of the Urban Council, the Regional Council or a district board making up the respective special constituencies and district board consti- tuencies. For functional constituencies, an elector who is an individual must have been registered under the Electoral Provisions Ordinance for the Urban Council, Regional Council and district board elections and be a member of an organisation forming part of the relevant constituency. No person may be registered in more than one functional constituency even if he is eligible. An elector who is not an individual must nominate a person not already an elector in his own right in the same constituency to be its authorised representative to vote at an election. That person may not be the authorised representative of another elector in the same or any other constituency. However, if eligible, a person may be registered to vote both in the electoral college and in the functional constituency to which he belongs apart from voting as an authorised representative. For 1988, the number of electors registered in the electoral college and the functional constituencies stands at 467 and 61 052 respectively, as compared to the corresponding potential electorate of 468 and 97 838 respectively.

The qualifications for candidature are simple: for an electoral college constituency, any person who is an elector registered under the Electoral Provisions Ordinance (and not necessarily an elector in any electoral college constituency) and who has been resident in Hong Kong for the preceding 10 or more years, may be nominated if supported by five electors in that constituency. For a functional constituency, any person who is an elector registered under the Electoral Provisions Ordinance, has been resident in Hong Kong for the preceding 10 or more years and has a substantial connection with the relevant functional constituency may be nominated if supported by 10 electors in the constituency concerned.

A preferential elimination voting system is adopted for both electoral college consti- tuencies and functional constituencies.

In the elections held in September 1988, a total of 26 candidates were validly nominated in the 12 electoral college constituencies; three were elected unopposed and the remaining 23 candidates contested the other nine seats. Of the 388 electors in the contested con- stituencies, 380 cast their votes. In the functional constituencies, a total of 20 candidates were validly nominated for the 14 seats; 10 were elected unopposed and the remaining 10