The Fifth Report

The Fourth Report of the Constitutional Development Task Force
Regional Forum (New Territories West)
(5 March 2005)

Discussion Summaries of Group 1
Group Facilitator: Mr MO Yun-ming

(Translation)

Method for Selecting the Chief Executive

The Number of Members of the Election Committee

• More participants supported an increase to 1 200, as it represented a growth of 50%.

The Composition of the Election Committee

• A participant opined that members of the Election Committee could come from the grassroots sector, but they should be of good calibre.
  
  

• Participant expressed their wish to increase the number of subsectors and to include new subsectors, such as small and medium enterprises, Chinese medicine practitioners, women, youth, representatives of chairpersons of owners' corporations, etc.
  
  

• Participants were of the view that the Election Committee should include more District Councils members. However, it did not necessarily mean that all District Councils members should become Election Committee members automatically. With regard to the selection method, participants did not go into detail.

The Number of Members Required for Nominating Candidates

• Participants took the view that the requirement of 100 subscribers was appropriate even if the number of the Election Committee members were increased.
  
  

• Participant agreed that if an upper limit was to be imposed, the appropriate level should be 200.
  
  

• The majority of participants took the view that it was unnecessary to require candidates to obtain support from different sectors of the Election Committee. This was because the size of the subsectors were not equal, and this might affect the candidates' chance to be nominated.

The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of the Election Committee

• Participants agreed that the delineation and size of the Election Committee electorate should be expanded. However, they did not have any specific proposal.
  
  

• Participants held different views on replacing corporate voting by individual voting. Some participants supported individual voting on the ground that this would broaden the coverage of voters, while participants holding opposite view argued that corporate voting, to some extent, was representative.
  
  

• A participant worried that if corporate voting were replaced by individual voting, some people might have more than one vote. If so, a mechanism should be set up to stipulate that they could cast one vote only.
  
  

• A participant considered that whether corporate voting was to be replaced by individual voting should be considered and decided by the respective organizations. However, if there was a decision to do so, all corporate voting within the same subsector should be replaced by individual voting.

Others

• Participants were of the view that it was not appropriate at this juncture to make a decision on whether the Chief Executive could have political affiliation or to set a timetable for selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage.
  
  

• Many participants were of the view that in the long run, it would be conducive to better governance if the Chief Executive had political affiliation. However, a participant opined that under certain circumstances, a Chief Executive with political affiliation might be radical.

Method for Forming the Legislative Council

The Number of Seats in the Legislative Council

• Participants were of the view that the number of Legislative Council seats was adequate and there was no need for increase. Otherwise, it would only incur more public expenditure.

The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of Legislative Council Functional Constituencies

• On the basis that the number of Legislative Council seats would not be increased, participants suggested that functional constituencies be restructured so that seats could be allocated more rationally. Participants did not have any specific proposal on how the restructuring should be done.

Provisions regarding Nationality of Legislative Council Members

• Some participants were of the opinion that the provision should be removed ultimately, while some other participants argued that there were only a few Legislative Council Members who were of non-Chinese nationality and this was not a problem. The number of participants holding either view was more or less equal.

Others

• Participants suggested that co-opted members be added to the Legislative Council. Although they were not formal members, they could participate in the discussion of various issues.
  
  

• Participants were of the view that as functional constituencies had their merits, they should be maintained in the long run. Thus, participants did not suggest any timetable for universal suffrage.