Seminars and Discussion Group

Seminar on Constitutional Development
(24 May 2004)
Group Discussion Summaries
Yellow Group: Mr. Robert Chow

(Translation)

Method for Selecting the Chief Executive

The Number of Members of the Election Committee

• Regarding the Election Committee, participants agreed that the number of members must be increased. There was no suggestion that the number should be reduced; nor did anyone suggest status quo. As to the number, there were suggestions that it should at most be increased to 1 600. On the issue of how these 1 600 members should be elected, participants were of the view that representativeness and a high level of participation were the most important considerations.

The Composition of the Election Committee

• Some opined that the most likely scenario was not to change the four sectors, since so doing might arouse disputes. Consideration should be given to the methods for electing more members to these sectors.
  
  

• Some participants suggested that District Council members should become members of the Election Committee since they were elected. Some disagreed on the ground that some District Council members were appointed. However, if all District Council members were directly elected, this idea could be explored. Some believed that when the public elected the District Council members, they had not elected them to elect the Chief Executive. Nor did the public know whether District Council members were competent to carry out such a duty.

The Number of Members Required for Nominating Candidates

• It was generally agreed that the number of Election Committee members required to nominate a Chief Executive candidate should remain unchanged or be reduced. Some even suggested that 50 subscribers would be sufficient. Even if the number of Election Committee members were increased to 1 600, the number of subscribers required to nominate a candidate should not be more than 100. Only one participant felt that the number should be increased to keep in line with the increase in the number of Election Committee members. All in all, the majority hoped that more candidates would come forward to run for the Chief Executive.
  
  

• A participant expressed that a candidate should be nominated by at least 25 members from each sector of the Election Committee. This was to ensure that the candidate received wide support instead of the support of only a particular sector.
  
  

• A participant felt that there might be problems if there were too many candidates and suggested that a round of preliminary election be considered.

The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of the Election Committee

• Participants agreed that the delineation and size of the electorate of the Election Committee should be enlarged as far as possible. Although the exact number was not mentioned, it was agreed that legitimacy was an important consideration.

Method for Forming the Legislative Council

The Number of Seats in the Legislative Council

• The majority of participants thought that the number of seats in the Legislative Council could be slightly adjusted, meaning that the increase should not exceed 20 in total.
  
  

• The majority view was to increase "5 seats plus 5 seats", i.e. a total of 10 seats. An important consideration that should be taken into account was the lack of space in the existing Legislative Council Building.

The Number of Seats Returned by Geographical Constituencies through Direct Elections

• Only one participant expressed his view on the number of seats returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections. He suggested that if the seats were to be increased by five, the simplest way to do so was to add one seat to each of the five existing constituencies.

The Number of Seats Returned by Functional Constituencies

• Participants could not come to a conclusion on the number of seats returned by functional constituencies. There were mainly two different opinions: one was to break up the functional constituencies because many sectors without much in common had been grouped together. Also, it seemed that some newly emerged sectors should not be grouped under an unrelated constituency. However, some thought that the representativeness of the functional constituencies would be lowered if their electorate were too small.

The Delineation and Size of the Electorate of Functional Constituencies

• Regarding the delineation and size of the electorate of functional constituencies, many were of the view that the right direction was to enlarge the scope and size of the electorate as far as possible. Corporate votes should as far as possible be replaced by individual votes.

Provisions regarding Nationality of Legislative Council Members

• As for nationality, most participants opined that people holding foreign passports should no longer participate in the work of the Legislative Council. However, it was pointed out that the provision regarding nationality of Legislative Council Members was enshrined in the Basic Law. Should there be any changes, amendments would have to be made to the Basic Law.

Other Views

Electoral System

• It was proposed that the "multi-seat, single-vote" system, instead of the existing system of proportional representation, should be adopted in direct elections.

(Please refer to the video recording for the floor speech.)