Seminars and Discussion Group

Regional Forum on Constitutional Development
(New Territories East)
(28 July 2004)

Group Discussion Summaries
Group 4: Mr Lam Siu-sau

(Translation)

Method for Selecting the Chief Executive

The Number of Members of the Election Committee

• All participants agreed that the number of Election Committee members should be increased. Proposals included the addition of all District Council members, and increasing the number to 1 600.

The Composition of the Election Committee

• A participant took the view that Election Committee members should be elected by direction election in geographical constituencies.
  
  

• A participant proposed that new subsectors for the elderly, youths and women should be added. Another participant considered that an enlargement of the composition of the Election Committee would lead to more disputes and divergence.

The Number of Members Required for Nominating Candidates

• A participant proposed that the number of subscribers required for nomination should be increased in line with the increase in the number of Election Committee members, but such increase should not exceed 20% of the total number of Election Committee members.

The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of the Election Committee

• A participant was of the view that, in addition to the increase in the number of Election Committee members, the electorate of the respective sectors should also be enlarged.
  
  

• A participant said that organisation votes should be replaced by individual votes in order to enhance the participation and legitimacy of the Election Committee.

Method for Forming the Legislative Council

The Number of Seats in the Legislative Council

• A participant proposed that the number of seats could be increased by 20, i.e. 10 additional seats returned by geographical constituencies and 10 additional seats returned by functional constituencies. This could help to train more political talents and pave way for implementation of universal suffrage in 2012.
  
  

• Another participant thought that a large increase in the number of seats would adversely affect efficiency. He suggested that 3 additional seats be added to geographical constituencies and functional constituencies respectively.

The Number of Seats Returned by Functional Constituencies

• A participant took the view that the number of seats returned by the functional constituencies for education, medical services and accounting should be increased because the size of these electorates were large.

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

• A participant considered that new functional constituencies should be introduced for the sectors of real estate and international voluntary agencies (such as the Rotary Club and the Lions Club).
  
  

• A participant expressed the view that organization votes should be replaced by individual votes in order to enhance legitimacy and participation, since the electorate of some organizations was very small.

Provisions regarding Nationality of Legislative Council Members

• A participant said that in the long run, all members of the Legislative Council should be holders of SAR passport.

Others

• A participant opined that functional constituencies were a transitional arrangement since they only represented the interest of individual sectors and lacked legitimacy and participation. He considered that universal suffrage should be implemented eventually.

Other Views

• All participants supported universal suffrage. Some participants thought that it should be implemented in 2007/08. Others considered that it could be implemented in 2012.
  
  

• Some participants urged the government to set out a timetable or schedule so that a clear direction for constitutional development could be established.
  
  

• All participants agreed that a government formed by a method of high representativeness, legitimacy and participation would be beneficial to Hong Kong.