The Fifth Report

The Fourth Report of the Constitutional Development Task Force
Regional Forum (Kowloon)
(23 March 2005)

Discussion Summaries of Group 5
Group Facilitator: Mr WONG Wing-tim

(Translation)

Method for Selecting the Chief Executive

The Number of Members of the Election Committee

• Participants agreed that the number of Election Committee members should be increased to allow wider community participation, enhance the representativeness of the Committee, and prepare for universal suffrage.

• The majority of participants supported an increase to 1 600 members. A participant suggested the number of members be increased to 1 200 or 1 500.

The Composition of the Election Committee

• Many participants suggested including District Council members and the chairpersons of area committees. A participant proposed to include representatives of co-opted members of District Councils, business leaders, representatives of owners' corporations and owners' committees, etc.

• Participants also opined that the existing subsectors should be reorganized in the light of economic restructuring and social changes. New subsectors, such as property agents, property management, security and Chinese medicine practitioners, should be introduced.

The Number of Members Required for Nominating Candidates

• The majority of participants agreed to maintain the existing lower limit of 100 subscribers to allow more candidates to run for the election. However, a participant suggested that the lower limit should be set at 5% of the total membership of the Election Committee.

• A participant suggested setting an upper limit of 25% of the total membership to allow more candidates to run for the election.

• The majority of participants took the view that candidates should be required to secure a certain level of support in each and every sector.

The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of the Election Committee

• Participants suggested that the electorate of the Election Committee should be enlarged.

• Participants suggested that corporate voting should be replaced with individual voting to allow wider participation in the election.

Method for Forming the Legislative Council

The Number of Seats in the Legislative Council

• The majority of participants agreed that the number of seats should remain unchanged to avoid wasting time and public money. Some other participants suggested increasing to 62, 70 or 80 seats.

The Number of Seats Returned by Geographical Constituencies

• Notwithstanding the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress that the ratio of seats returned by geographical constituencies to those returned by functional constituencies should be the same, a participant suggested that the number of seats returned by geographical constituencies and functional constituencies should be 50 and 30 respectively.

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

• A participant suggested that the existing constituencies be reorganized, split and merged in view of economic restructuring. The reason was that the electorate size of some constituencies was too small but that of some other constituencies was too large.

Provisions regarding Nationality of Legislative Council Members

• About half of the participants took the view that the number of Members who were not of Chinese nationality should be reduced as there was the question of allegiance. Another half of the participants held opposite views and considered that as Hong Kong was an international city, having a few Legislative Council Members with foreign nationalities was acceptable.