| Government has no firm position on how to amend the two electoral methods |
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In response to press enquiries concerning constitutional development, a government spokesman tonight (July 29) said:
"Since the consultation for the fourth report of the Constitutional Development Task Force was drawn to a close, the Administration has been consolidating the public views received. Much work remains to be done, before we are in a position to put together a mainstream proposal for publication in the fifth report in the autumn." "During the public consultation process, many organisations and individuals have submitted to the Task Force a wide range of views on whether the number of Election Committee and Functional Constituency seats should be increased and if so to which sectors these extra seats should be allocated. The suggestions put forth to us include increasing the representatives of small and medium enterprises, women's groups and Chinese medicine. We are still in the process of analysing these views and no firm position has been taken yet." "Members of the Legislative Council have a constitutional role in amending the two electoral methods. Any changes will also have to be approved by the Central Authorities and the Chief Executive before implementation. The SAR Government will strive to achieve tri-partite consensus, in the hope that the two electoral systems can be further opened up and that public participation broadened." |