The Fifth Report

The Fourth Report of the Constitutional Development Task Force
Regional Forum (HK Island)
(19 March 2005)

Discussion Summaries of Group 2
Group Facilitator: Mr HUI Tin-fook, David

(Translation)

Method for Selecting the Chief Executive

The Number of Members of the Election Committee

• Many participants suggested increasing the number of Election Committee members to 1 200 - 1 600, with more of them supporting an increase to 1 600. There were also suggestions of an increase to 3 000 - 4 000.

The Composition of the Election Committee

• Many participants were of the view that representatives of District Council members should be increased as the directly elected District Council members were elected by the public. A participant considered that appointed District Council members should not be included as they lacked representativeness.

• A participant considered that there should be more district representatives. He suggested that these representatives should be elected from each of the 18 districts, such as election from among the district recreation associations, district chambers of commerce and corporations, etc.

• A participant proposed adding a women subsector. The representatives could be returned by the women organizations of 18 districts.

• A participant suggested including all chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of area committees to the Election Committee. However, a participant opined that there might be a technical problem. As the term of office of area committee members was two years, and the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons had to be re-elected following the new term, this might not match the formation timetable of the Election Committee for the 2007 election.

The Number of Members Required for Nominating Candidates

• Many participants agreed to reduce the threshold in proportion terms (i.e. the number of subscribers as a proportion of total Election Committee membership). A participant opined that if the Election Committee was expanded to 1 600 members, the existing requirement of 100 subscribers could be maintained, which would effectively lower the threshold to one-sixteenth of total membership of the Election Committee.

• A participant considered that the number of subscribers required should not be too high in order not to hinder prospective candidates from running for the election.

• A participant proposed that one proposer and one seconder would suffice. However, another participant was concerned that if the threshold was set too low, the election might lose its seriousness, or someone might make use of the election for propaganda. To maintain the solemnity of the election, he suggested setting a higher threshold but lower than the current proportion of one-eighth of the total membership.

• A participant suggested setting an upper limit for nomination, for example 30 - 40 members, to avoid a situation whereby a candidate would obtain many nominations and make it impossible for others to run for the election.

Others

• The majority of participants took the view that the representativeness and legitimacy of the Chief Executive should be strengthened.

Method for Forming the Legislative Council

The Number of Seats in the Legislative Council

• The majority of participants was of the opinion that the number of seats in the Legislative Council could be suitably increased.

• A participant was of the view that 60 seats was adequate.

The Number of Seats Returned by Geographical Constituencies

• Many participants proposed adding five to ten seats. Among them, more supported an increase of five seats.

The Number of Seats Returned by Functional Constituencies

• Participants suggested that, if there was an increase of seats in geographical constituencies, the number of seats returned by functional constituencies should be increased by five accordingly.

• A participant suggested that the additional five seats be allocated to Chinese enterprises, the logistic industry, Chinese medical practitioners, women, and small-and-medium enterprises. The reason for adding a Chinese enterprises constituency was that many Chinese enterprises had invested in Hong Kong. There should be a constituency for women because it was a very sizable sector.

• A participant considered that the current constituencies should be allowed to decide how their representatives were to be returned.

Provisions regarding Nationality of Legislative Council Members

• Participants were of the view that Legislative Council Members should be of Chinese nationality to demonstrate their commitment to Hong Kong.

• Some participants opined that Legislative Council election candidates should be Chinese nationals for a certain period of time before the election. A participant suggested that candidates should have given up their foreign nationalities four years before the election. However, another participant considered that as the remaining time before the 2008 election was short, some potential candidates would be deprived of the chance to enter the election if the restriction was too harsh. Hence, he suggested requiring the candidates to have given up their foreign nationalities two years before the election.