Seminars and Discussion Group

Regional Forum on Constitutional Development
(New Territories West)
(14 July 2004)
Group Discussion Summaries
Group 6: Mr Yeung Yuk-chiu

(Translation)

Method for Selecting the Chief Executive

The Number of Members of the Election Committee

• Participants agreed that, given the growth of Hong Kong's population, the number of members of the Election Committee should be increased to 1,200.

The Composition of the Election Committee

• Participants considered that district level representatives should be included in the Election Committee, but there were different views on whether District Council members should be included.
  
  

• Some participants opined that there should be more representatives of the professionals and the middle-class.
  
  

• A participant suggested that the number of seats for the business and industrial sector be increased.
  
  

• A participant proposed to standardize the number of members returned from each designated body of the religious subsector to seven. However, a participant held a different view and suggested that any increase should be proportional to the size of followers of the respective religious.

The Number of Members Required for Nominating Candidates

• Participants had different views on the lower limit of the required number of subscribers. Some proposed to reduce it to 50, some suggested maintaining it at 100, while others suggested raising it to 150.
  
  

• Participants agreed that an upper limit of 200 should be imposed.

The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of the Election Committee

• A participant proposed to split some of the existing sectors.
  
  

• A participant proposed to increase individual voting. For example, under the present arrangement, there was only corporate voting for the financial subsector.

Others

• A participant was of the opinion that the election process for the Chief Executive should be fair, proper and impartial.
  
  

• A participant considered that the election should be conducted by secret ballot.

Method for Forming the Legislative Council

The Number of Seats in the Legislative Council

• Participants agreed that the number of seats in the Legislative Council should remain unchanged.

The Number of Seats Returned by Geographical Constituencies

• Participants were of the opinion that the number of seats returned by geographical constituencies should remain at 30.

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

• A participant suggested that the electorate for the financial, commercial and industrial constituencies be enlarged.
  
  

• A participant proposed that individual voting should be introduced for the financial constituency.
  
  

• Participants held different views with respect to a suggestion of introducing a new constituency for women. A dissenting view expressed was that women had already occupied many of the top positions in many professions. If there was a new constituency for women, it would be unfair as they would be over-represented.
  
  

• A participant suggested that a new constituency for Chinese medicine be introduced to represent registered Chinese medical practitioners.

Provisions regarding Nationality of Legislative Council Members

• A participant suggested that non-registered foreign language teachers and Putonghua teachers from the Mainland be allowed to run for Legislative Council seats in the relevant constituencies after they had obtained Hong Kong permanent resident status.