ENG-2004 — Page 37

Constitution and Administration | 11

elected. For functional constituencies Nos. 1 to 4, the preferential elimination voting system is used. Under this system, an elector is entitled to cast one vote. The vote is transferable among the candidates marked on a ballot paper if the elector marks his preferences for more than one candidate. A candidate who obtains an absolute majority of the votes will be elected. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority, the candidate with the least number of votes will be eliminated and that candidate's votes will be transferred to other candidates in accordance with the preferences marked on the ballot paper. The process will continue until one candidate obtains an absolute majority over the other remaining candidates.

Electoral System for the Chief Executive

Under the Basic Law, the Chief Executive is selected by election or through consultations held locally, and appointed by the CPG. The method for selecting the Chief Executive shall be specified in the light of the actual situation in the HKSAR and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress. The Basic Law also provides that if there is a need to amend the method for selecting the Chief Executives for the terms subsequent to the year 2007, such amendments must be made with the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of all members of the Legislative Council and the consent of the Chief Executive, and shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for approval. The ultimate aim is the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures. Annex I to the Basic Law lays down the basic framework as to how the Chief Executive shall be selected through local election. It provides, inter alia, that the Chief Executive shall be elected by a broadly representative Election Committee through secret ballot on a one-person-one-vote basis.

In accordance with the Basic Law, the Election Committee responsible for electing the second term Chief Executive in 2002 is one and the same as the Election Committee that returned six members to the second term Legislative Council in 2000. The Election Committee is composed of members who are HKSAR permanent residents from four sectors: (1) industrial, commercial and financial; (2) the professions; (3) labour, social services and religious; and (4) members of the Legislative Council, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress, representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and representatives of district-based organisations. Each of these four sectors returns 200 members. Each sector is further divided into subsectors, each returning a specified number of representatives to the Election Committee by election. Members of the Legislative Council and Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress are ex officio members of the Election Committee, and the religious subsector returns its representatives to the Election Committee by nomination from designated religious bodies. Since only one candidate, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, was validly nominated at the close of nominations, he was therefore declared elected at the 2002 Chief Executive Election by the Returning Officer in accordance with the Chief Executive Election Ordinance, on February 28, 2002. On March 4, 2002, the CPG formally announced, in accordance with the Basic