| LC: Opening speech by Acting SCMA to move motion on approving District Councils Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Order 2017 |
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Following is the opening speech (English translation) by the Acting Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Andy Chan, to move the motion on approving the District Councils Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Order 2017 in the Legislative Council today (January 17): President, I move that the motion on the District Councils Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Order 2017 (the Order), as printed on the Agenda, be passed. The purpose of this piece of subsidiary legislation is to increase the number of elected seats of ten District Councils (DCs) by 21, starting from the sixth-term DCs which will commence operation on January 1, 2020. Accordingly, the amendments are also applicable to the 2019 DC ordinary election which returns members of the sixth-term DCs. The increase in the number of elected seats proposed by the Government is based on the forecast of the population of Hong Kong by mid-2019 on hand and the population in mid-2016 derived from the 2016 Population By-census (whichever is the greater), the continued application of a population quota of about 17 000 residents to one DC elected seat and the methodology used in the last review, and the abolition of DC appointed seats from the fifth-term DCs onwards. Our specific recommendation is to increase the number of elected seats by one for Kowloon City, Yau Tsim Mong and Tsuen Wan DCs respectively; by two for Sham Shui Po, Kwai Tsing, Tuen Mun and Sai Kung DCs respectively; by three for Kwun Tong and Sha Tin DCs respectively; and by four for Yuen Long DC. The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau listened to the views of the Legislative Council (LegCo) Panel on Constitutional Affairs and the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the 18 DCs on the proposal in July last year. The Chief Executive in Council made the Order at the Executive Council meeting on October 10, 2017. The LegCo subsequently formed a Subcommittee on Subsidiary Legislation to scrutinise the Order and has completed the scrutiny after holding one meeting. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Chairman of the Subcommittee, Mr Jeffrey Lam, and other Subcommittee members for their work. There was general support of the principles adopted in the review and the resultant increase in the number of elected seats from the LegCo Panel on Constitutional Affairs, the LegCo Subcommittee on Subsidiary Legislation, and the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the DCs. That said, we received some comments, and I would like to respond to major ones. First, there were views emphasising the importance of the preservation of community identities and local ties and physical features of the area in determining the number of elected seats and in demarcating the District Council constituency area (DCCA) boundaries. For example, there was request for giving due consideration to the unique geographical feature of the scattering islands of the Islands DC and the lack of transportation linkages among the islands and providing an additional elected seat for the Islands DC. There was also request for providing an additional seat to the North DC with rapid population growth. We have considered the views collected carefully. Since the current review of the number of elected seats is conducted based on established methodology and objective population data which equally apply to all DCs, we decide to maintain the resulting proposal of increasing 21 elected seats for the sixth-term DCs. That said, we appreciate the importance of the preservation of community identities and local ties. It is indeed a statutory requirement for the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) to have regard to community identities and the preservation of local ties, and the physical features such as size, shape, accessibility and development of the relevant area or any part of the relevant area for the demarcation of DCCA boundaries. Second, we also received views related to the mechanism for determining the number of elected seats. In view of the growing overall population in Hong Kong and the possible impact of the expanding/dwindling population on the operation of individual DCs in the longer term, we agree that we should review and improve the mechanism for determining the number of elected seats for the seventh-term DCs (2024-2027), and consider the merits of suggestions received from the LegCo and DCs this time in one go. Subject to the approval of the District Councils Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Order 2017 by the Legislative Council today, the EAC will make recommendations for the demarcation of constituency boundaries for the 2019 DC ordinary election this year having regard to the revised number of DC elected seats. The Registration and Electoral Office will also make preparation for the conduct of the 2019 DC ordinary election in accordance with the revised number of DC elected seats. With the above, I invite Members to approve the District Councils Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Order 2017 to implement the increase of 21 elected seats for the sixth-term DCs. Thank you, President. Ends/Wednesday, January 17, 2018 Issued at HKT 17:01 NNNN |