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Following is a question by Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau and a reply by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Stephen Lam, in the Legislative Council today (March 3):
Question:
According to Annex II of the Basic Law, the passage of bills introduced by the Government shall require at least a simple majority vote of the Members of the Legislative Council present. The passage of motions, bills or amendments to government bills introduced by individual Members of the Legislative Council shall require a simple majority vote of each of the two groups of Members present: Members returned by functional constituencies and those returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections (directly elected Members). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the justifications for the Basic Law stipulating different procedures for voting on bills introduced by the Government and by individual Members of the Legislative Council respectively;
(b) of the following data in each of the past three legislative sessions:
(i) regarding voting on motions introduced by the Government under the positive vetting procedure, the respective numbers of those which were by division and those which were not; and among the motions on which a division had been held, the number of those that failed to obtain a majority vote of the directly elected Members present; and
(ii) regarding voting on government bills at different stages (including Second Reading, Committee stage and Third Reading), the respective numbers of those which were by division and those which were not, as well as those that failed to obtain a majority vote of the directly elected Members present; and
(c) whether it will consider proposing that the Basic Law be amended to unify the procedures for voting on bills introduced by the Government and those by Members of the Legislative Council, so that the implementation of government policies can follow public opinions more closely?
Reply :
President,
(a) On March 28, 1990, Mr Ji Pengfei, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, addressed the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress (NPC) when submitting the Basic Law (Draft) and related documents. Mr Ji made the following explanations regarding the procedures for voting in the Legislative Council (LegCo), as prescribed in Annex II to the Basic Law :
"Annex II also stipulates that different voting procedures shall be adopted by the Legislative Council in handling bills introduced by the government and motions and bills introduced by individual members of the Legislative Council. The passage of bills introduced by the government requires a simple majority vote of the members of the Legislative Council present. The passage of motions, bills or amendments to government bills introduced by individual members of the Legislative Council requires at least a simple majority vote by each of the two groups of members present, i.e., members returned by functional constituencies and those returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections and by the Election Committee. Such provisions take into consideration the interests of all social strata and will prevent endless debates over government bills, thus helping the government work with efficiency."
(b) The Administration does not keep any statistics on the LegCo's voting results on motions and bills introduced by the Government. In response to the question raised by Dr Hon Leung Ka-lau, we have reviewed the minutes and voting results of a total of 110 LegCo meetings in the three legislative sessions of 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09, and compiled statistics on the voting results on government motions under the positive vetting procedure, as well as the voting results on the Second Reading and Third Reading of government bills. The relevant data are set out at Annex 1 and Annex 2 respectively for Members' reference. All these motions and bills have been passed.
As regards statistics on the LegCo's voting during the Committee Stage, a bill may involve many occasions of voting during the Committee Stage. Some individual bills had even involved as many as over 100 times of voting during the Committee Stage. Compilation of the relevant data involves an extensive review of a large amount of information. We are, therefore, unable to provide the data required. We trust that the statistics on the voting results on the Second Reading and Third Reading of government bills as set out at Annex 2 would enable Members to have a general picture of the situation on the LegCo's voting results relating to government bills.
(c) According to Article 68 of the Basic Law, the procedures for voting on bills and motions in the LegCo are prescribed in Annex II to the Basic Law. Annex II to the Basic Law has prescribed the relevant procedures. The Basic Law is the constitutional law of the HKSAR and should not be amended lightly. Moreover, the decision of the Standing Committee of the NPC on December 29, 2007 has made it clear that the procedures for voting on bills and motions in the LegCo shall remain unchanged for the LegCo formed in 2012. The HKSAR Government will not consider any change to the mechanism.
The HKSAR Government will continue to listen to the views of the public closely and give them careful consideration. The HKSAR Government will also consider carefully LegCo Members' suggestions when taking forward the legislative work, so that our governance can better meet the public's aspirations.
Ends/Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Annex I
Annex II
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