ENG-2008 — Page 45

Constitution and Administration 9

district. The District Management Committee serves as a forum for consultation, co-ordination and collaboration between different departments and the DC to help resolve inter-departmental district issues and to ensure that district needs are met promptly.

To promote harmony within the community and encourage public participation in district affairs, Area Committees have been set up in the 18 districts to advise on local issues and to help organise community activities and government campaigns. At year-end, there were 63 Area Committees.

Twenty Public Enquiry Service Centres, attached to the District Offices, provide a wide range of free services to the public. These services include answering general enquiries about government services, distributing government forms and disseminating information, administering declarations and referring matters brought up during the meet-the-public sessions and cases under the Free Legal Advice Scheme and the Rent Officer Scheme to the departments or organisations concerned. The Public Enquiry Service Centres and the Central Telephone Enquiry Centre served a total of 1.81 million clients in 2008.

The Electoral System

Electoral System for the Legislative Council

The composition of the first three terms of the Legislative Council as set out in the Basic Law is as follows:

Membership

First term

(1998-2000)

Second term

(2000-2004)

Third term

(2004-2008)

(a) elected by geographical

constituencies through direct elections

20

24

30

(b) elected by functional

constituencies

30

30

30

(c) elected by an election

committee

10

6

60

60

60

The composition of the fourth-term (2008-2012) Legislative Council is the same as that of the third term1.

1

The Government, in 2005, put forth a proposal to increase the number of seats to 70 for the fourth-term Legislative Council. However, the proposal was not endorsed by a two-thirds majority in Legislative Council as required by the Basic Law.

Page 45Page 46