Hong Kong Government Publishes 2012 Elections Consultation Paper

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Daniel McAtee at 202-238-6360
Melissa Ng / David Hsieh at 212-752-3320
Wing Yan Tong at 415-835-9315

November 18, 2009 - The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government today published a consultation paper on the methods for selecting the Chief Executive and for forming the Legislative Council in 2012 with the aim of taking forward the pace of democratic development.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Executive Donald Tsang reiterated the government’s determination to advance Hong Kong’s democratic development in 2012, thus paving the way for universal suffrage elections for the Chief Executive in 2017 and the entire legislature in 2020.

“Our job is to broaden the scope of political participation and increase substantially the democratic elements in the 2012 elections in accordance with the Basic Law [Hong Kong’s constitutional document] and the decision of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples’ Congress in December 2007,” Mr. Tsang said.

Unveiling the consultation paper at the Legislative Council meeting today, Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang said the 2012 electoral arrangements should respond to community aspirations on constitutional development, enhance the democratic elements of the elections, and have the possibility of being accepted by the majority of the public, lawmakers, the Chief Executive and the Central Authorities.

Key directions
On the electoral method for selecting the Chief Executive in 2012, Mr. Tang said consideration may be given to increasing the number of Election Committee members from 800 to no more than 1,200.

Mr. Tang said the range of increase would meet the requirement of gradual and orderly progress, provide more room for the community to participate in the Chief Executive election and further enhance the representativeness of the Election Committee. In addition, he added that this would help transform the Election Committee into the nominating committee when universal suffrage for the Chief Executive is implemented in 2017.

Members of the Election Committee are returned from four different sectors. Regarding the Election Committee's composition, consideration may be given to increasing the number of members of the four sectors by the same proportion, such as adding 100 members for each sector.

For the fourth sector – Legislative Council, District Councils, Heung Yee Kuk, Hong Kong deputies to the National People’s Congress and Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – consideration may be given to allocating most of the additional 100 seats to District Council members to enhance the Election Committee's democratic elements.

District Council representatives
Regarding the representatives of District Councils in the Election Committee, consideration may be given to having all such representatives elected from among elected District Council members, meaning appointed District Council members will not take part in the election.

On the nominating arrangement for the Chief Executive, the current nomination threshold is at the ratio of one eighth of the total membership of the Election Committee. Mr. Tang said that the arrangement allowed sufficient competition and ensured that candidates had sufficient support. Hence, he said the government was of the view that consideration may be given to maintaining this nomination threshold.

Regarding the existing requirement that the Chief Executive should not have any political affiliation, consideration may be given to maintain the status quo.

Legislative Council elections
On the electoral method for the Legislative Council for 2012, Mr. Tang said the government was of the view that consideration may be given to increasing the number of Legislative Council seats from 60 to 70.

In accordance with the NPCSC decision, the half-and-half ratio between Legislative Council members returned by functional constituencies and members returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections shall remain unchanged in 2012.

In other words, among the 10 additional seats, five will be allocated to geographical constituencies and five will be allocated to functional constituencies. Consideration may be given to having all the five functional constituency seats and the existing District Council functional constituency seat returned through election among elected District Council members; i.e., appointed District Council members will not take part in the election.

Mr. Tang said he considered the arrangement of not creating any “traditional” functional constituencies and that the increased participation of elected District Council members, who have a broader electorate base, could help enhance the democratic elements of the functional constituencies elections and forge consensus within the community.

Lawmakers' nationality
Regarding Legislative Council members' nationality, currently Hong Kong permanent residents who are not of Chinese nationality or who have the right of abode in foreign countries may stand in the elections for 12 functional constituencies seats. The government is of the view that consideration may be given to maintaining the arrangement.

Mr. Tang said the government adopted an open attitude to the two electoral methods for 2012 and would listen carefully to the views of the public throughout the public consultation period.

The public consultation period will last for three months and will close on February 19, 2010.

Public Consultation on the Methods for Selection the Chief Executive and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2012 can be downloaded at http://www.cmab-cd2012.gov.hk/