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Seminar on Constitutional Development
(11 June 2004)
Group Discussion Summaries
Red Group: Mr Lee Luen-fai
(Translation)
Method for Selecting the Chief Executive
The Number of Members of the Election Committee
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Participants generally agreed that the size of the Election Committee should be slightly expanded. As to the actual number of increase, some suggested 1 200, other 1 600 but the justifications were not provided.
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It seemed that the Government would need to conduct a more detailed research in this area to facilitate public discussion. It would be difficult for individuals to work out their own calculations based on sound theoretical and specific reasoning.
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A participant suggested that 70 instead of 800 members in the Election Committee would suffice. He suggested dividing the seven million people in Hong Kong into groups of 100 000. Each group would vote for one "elector", a total of 70 "electors". The Chief Executive would then be selected by means of an electoral college. However, there was no clear discussion amongst
the participants on whether this was a form of indirect universal suffrage.
The Composition of the Election Committee
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A participant opposed to a suggestion, made at the last seminar, that certain Election Committee members could be returned by drawing lots. The reason given was that the Election Committee was an important component of Hong Kong's political structure, it would be too casual if its members were to be chosen by drawing lots.
The Number of Members Required for Nominating Candidates
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A participant opined that there was room to adjust the number of subscribers for nominating a candidate.
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A participant suggested that the number of subscribers could be set at 5% of the total number of the Election Committee, regardless of whether the size of the future Election Committee was 1 000, 1 600 or 3 200.
Method for Forming the Legislative Council
The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of Legislative Council Functional Constituencies
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Participants focused on which sectors should be added as functional constituencies. Some of the sectors suggested included Chinese medical practitioners, small and medium enterprise, and Mainland enterprises.
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There was a suggestion for a constituency for "students", on the ground that young people were the future of our society. If we wanted to groom political talents in Hong Kong, students over 18 years of age should be given a seat.
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There was a view which supported the addition of a constituency for "community organizations". According to information provided by a participant, the number of community organizations in Hong Kong was growing.
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Participants had diverse views on whether functional constituencies should adopt corporate voting or individual voting. Each side had its own justifications. There had been considerable debate on this issue in the community.
Other Views
Universal suffrage
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Participants had different views on constitutional development and universal suffrage. A participant said that he basically objected to universal suffrage. However, since this was enshrined in the Basic Law, he had no choice but to accept it and would abide by it.
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A participant said that there were many "big crocodiles" in the economic arena, so was the case in the political arena. Despite the existence of "big crocodiles" in the political arena, we did not need to worry about it because over time problems would be resolved and balanced development achieved. He therefore thought that we could adopt a more liberal view on
constitutional development.
Other observations
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I would like to put forward some observations. First, I felt that many participants came prepared. They seemed to have prepared a written position paper, and read it out in detail at the discussion. I thought that they were keen to have their views recognized and respected.
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Secondly, there were supporting and opposing views on each issue. There were divergent views on nearly every issue.
(Please refer to the video recording for the floor speech.)
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