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Regional Forum on Constitutional Development
(New Territories West)
(14 July 2004)
Group Discussion Summaries
Group 1: Mr Tsang Kee-jung
(Translation)
Method for Selecting the Chief Executive
The Number of Members of the Election Committee
The Composition of the Election Committee
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A participant suggested reducing the number of Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress and representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in the Election Committee.
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A participant proposed to introduce a subsector for the elderly and one for youth.
The Number of Members Required for Nominating Candidates
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Participants agreed that the number of Election Committee members required to nominate a Chief Executive candidate should remain unchanged.
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A participant suggested to impose an upper limit for the number of subscribers required for each candidate.
The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of the Election Committee
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Some participants suggested the introduction of new subsectors for, respectively, Chinese enterprises, the elderly, youth and students.
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A participant considered that the legal and medical subsectors could be further divided. For instance, the legal subsector could be split into barristers and solicitors; the medical subsector could be divided to cover different medical specialties. But a participant objected on the ground that it would be difficult to manage if the delineation was too fine.
Others
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A participant considered that members of the Election Committee should not express in public their support for a particular candidate.
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A participant hoped that candidates could provide clear manifesto for voters' consideration.
Method for Forming the Legislative Council
The Number of Seats in the Legislative Council
The Number of Seats Returned by Geographical Constituencies
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Some participants considered that the number of seats returned by geographical constituencies should be increased so that the Government would hear the views of more voters. A participant suggested to increase the number of geographical seats to 35.
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A participant considered that the number of seats returned by geographical constituencies should be increased while that of functional constituencies should be reduced in order to demonstrate the determination to move towards universal suffrage.
The Number of Seats Returned by Functional Constituencies
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A participant suggested that, since Hong Kong did not have a bi-cameral system, the number of seats returned by functional constituencies should be increased to 35 to ensure balanced participation by the community.
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A participant considered that the number of seats returned by functional constituencies should not be increased.
The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of Legislative Council Functional Constituencies
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A participant proposed that corporate voting be replaced with individual voting in order to enhance the legitimacy of the elected members.
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A participant considered that the electorate of functional constituencies should be expanded as far as possible. It should not be confined to people at the top or management level, but should be extended to workers. A participant disagreed on the ground that workers were already represented in the Legislative Council by the labour functional constituency.
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A participant considered that stalls in markets managed by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department should be included in the catering constituency.
Provisions regarding Nationality of Legislative Council Members
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A participant said that people who were not of Chinese nationality should not be allowed to sit on the Legislative Council, or they should at most only have one seat.
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However, a participant considered that people not of Chinese nationality but were born in Hong Kong should also be given the opportunity to participate in the Legislative Council election.
Others
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A participant considered that it would be relatively difficult for professionals to be elected if universal suffrage was introduced. Thus, he suggested that, for functional constituency election, the candidates be nominated by the respective functional constituencies, to be followed by election by universal suffrage. However, some participants disagreed, saying that
the likelihood of a candidate being elected depended on whether he had actively participated in public affairs.
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A participant was of the view that Legislative Council Members should swear allegiance to the People's Republic of China, instead of swearing to uphold the Basic Law
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A participant hoped that the Administration could set out the timetable for universal suffrage as soon as possible.
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A participant suggested amending the current ratio of seats return by geographical constituencies to functional constituencies so that universal suffrage could be achieved in a gradual and orderly manner.
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