ENG-2011 — Page 49

Constitution and Administration I 13

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

Second term Third term

(1998-2000) (2000-2004) (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-term. The number of Legislative Council members to be returned by geographical constituencies and functional constituencies will be increased to 35 for the fifth-term (2012-2016) Legislative Council.

Geographical Constituency

Geographical constituency elections are held on the basis of universal suffrage. All eligible persons aged 18 or above have the right to be registered as electors and to vote in the elections. There are currently about 3.56 million registered electors.

The HKSAR is divided into five geographical constituencies of four to eight seats. in the fourth-term of the Legislative Council. In the fifth-term of the Legislative Council, the number of geographical constituencies remains five and the number of seats for each of the five geographical constituencies is to be a number not less than five nor greater than nine. Electors choose lists of candidates, using the List Voting System which operates under the Largest Remainder formula, a form of proportional representation.

Any permanent resident of the HKSAR who is a Chinese citizen with no right of abode in any foreign country may stand for election in any geographical constituency, provided that he or she is a registered elector on the Final Register, has attained the age of 21, and has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for the preceding three years.