| Over 430 public submissions received on constitutional development |
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The consultation period for the Fourth Report of the Constitutional Development Task Force, "Views and proposals of members of the community on the methods for selecting the Chief Executive in 2007 and for forming the Legislative Council in 2008", ends today (May 31). The consultation period lasted five and a half months. As at the afternoon of May 31, more than 430 submissions have been received.
A spokesman for the Task Force said that among the submissions, about 180 were from organizations, while the rest were put forward by individuals. All the submissions, except those which requested confidentiality, will be published when the Fifth Report is issued. The spokesman noted that between January and March, the Task Force commissioned the Home Affairs Department to organize two open forums for the general public, and four regional forums for people from different sectors of the community (including all District Council members, area committee members, students, professionals, middle-class personalities, representatives of district organizations, etc). A total of over 730 participants attended these forums. The video clips of the open forums and the discussion summaries of the regional forums have been uploaded onto the Constitutional Development webpage (www.cab-review.gov.hk) for public reference. In addition, the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs and his representatives attended three public hearings of the Legislative Council and meetings of the 18 District Councils to gather first hand views of people from different sectors of the community and District Council members. In the last few weeks, members of the Task Force met with the representatives of nine different groups and an individual. The meetings were held at their requests, so that they could elaborate on their views to the Task Force. The Task Force expressed its thanks to different sectors of the community for their views. The spokesman said that the Task Force will process the submissions and consider fully the views put forward by different sectors of the community. The Task Force will endeavour to publish the Fifth Report in the latter half of this year after consulting the new Chief Executive to be elected in the upcoming election. The Fifth Report will put forth a mainstream proposal for discussion by the public and the Legislative Council, with a view to arriving at a proposal that is feasible and acceptable to the Hong Kong community at large. Ends/Tuesday, May 31, 2005 |