Electoral System for the Legislative Council

In accordance with the Basic Law, the Legislative Council of the HKSAR is constituted by elections, and the method for its formation is to be specified in the light of the actual situation in the HKSAR in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress.

    The composition of the first three terms of the Legislative Council as set out in the Basic Law is as follows:—

Membership		First term (1998–2000)	Second term (2000–2004)	Third term (2004–2008)
(a)	elected by geographical constituencies through direct elections	20	24	30
(b)	elected by functional constituencies	30	30	30
(c)	elected by an election committee	10	6
		60	60	60

    The second term Legislative Council election was held successfully on September 10, 2000. A total of 155 validly nominated candidates contested the 60 Legislative Council seats. Over 1.33 million registered electors cast their votes on the polling day, representing a turnout rate of 43.6 per cent. The election was conducted fairly, openly and honestly under the supervision of the Electoral Affairs Commission.

    The Basic Law provides that changes to the method for the formation of the Legislative Council after 2007 must be made by a two-thirds majority of all the members of the Legislative Council and with the consent of the Chief Executive. Any such changes are to be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record. The Basic Law also provides that the ultimate aim is the election of all members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage.

(a) Geographical Constituency

Geographical constituency elections are held on the basis of universal suffrage. All eligible persons aged 18 or above have the right to be registered as electors and to vote in the elections. There are currently about three million registered electors.

    The HKSAR is divided into five geographical constituencies, each having four to six seats. The List Voting System operating under the Largest Remainder formula, which is a form of proportional representation voting, is adopted. Under this system, candidates contest the election in the form of lists. Each list may consist of any number of candidates up to the number of seats in the relevant constituency. An elector is entitled to cast one vote for a list. The seats for the constituency will be distributed among the lists according to the number of votes obtained by the respective lists.

    Any permanent resident of the HKSAR who is a Chinese citizen with no right of abode in any foreign country may stand for election in any geographical constituency, provided that he or she is a registered elector on the Final Register, has attained the age of 21, and has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for the preceding three years. Electors may vote only in the constituency in which they are registered.

(b) Functional Constituency

Each functional constituency represents an economic, social, or professional group which is substantial and important to the HKSAR. For the second term of the Legislative Council, these are (1) Heung Yee Kuk; (2) agriculture and fisheries; (3) insurance; (4) transport; (5) education; (6) legal; (7) accountancy; (8) medical; (9) health services; (10) engineering; (11) architectural, surveying and planning; (12) labour; (13) social welfare; (14) real estate and construction; (15) tourism; (16) commercial (first); (17) commercial (second); (18) industrial (first); (19) industrial (second); (20) finance; (21) financial services; (22) sports, performing arts, culture and publication; (23) import and export; (24) textiles and garment; (25) wholesale and retail; (26) information technology; (27) catering; and (28) District Council. The labour functional constituency returns three Legislative Council members and the other 27 functional constituencies return one member each.

    Functional constituencies which represent professional groups have electorates based on membership of those professions with well-established and recognised qualifications, including statutory qualifications. Each individual member has one vote. The electorates of functional constituencies representing economic or social groups are generally made up of corporate members of major organisations representative of the relevant sectors. Each corporate member appoints an authorised representative to cast the vote on its behalf in an election.

    To become a candidate in the functional constituencies, one must satisfy the same age and residential requirements as in a geographical constituency election, be a registered elector on the Final Register, and also a registered elector of or have a substantial connection with the relevant functional constituency. To give due recognition to the significant contribution made by foreign nationals and the fact that Hong Kong is an international city, permanent residents of the HKSAR who are not of Chinese nationality or who have the right of abode in foreign countries may stand for election in 12 designated functional constituencies (i.e. functional constituencies No. 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23 mentioned above). Elections for functional constituencies (except functional constituencies Nos. 1 to 4) are determined by a simple majority, i.e. the candidate who obtains the most votes will be elected. For functional constituencies Nos. 1 to 4, the preferential elimination system is used. Under this system, an elector is entitled to cast one vote. The vote is transferable among the candidates marked on a ballot paper if the elector marks his preferences for more than one candidate. A candidate who obtains an absolute majority of the votes will be elected. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority, the candidate with the least number of votes will be eliminated and that candidate's votes will be transferred to other candidates in accordance with the preferences marked on the ballot paper. The process will continue until one candidate obtains an absolute majority over other remaining candidates.

(c) Election Committee

The qualifications for candidature in the Legislative Council Election Committee election are the same as those for geographical constituency elections. The Election Committee is composed of members who are HKSAR permanent residents from four sectors: (1) industrial, commercial and financial; (2) the professions; (3) labour, social services and religious; and (4) members of the Legislative Council, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress, representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and representatives of district-based organisations. Each of these four sectors returns 200 members. Each sector is further divided into subsectors each returning a specified number of representatives to the Election Committee by election. Members of the Legislative Council and Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress are ex officio members of the Election Committee, and the religious subsector returns its representatives to the Election Committee by nomination from designated religious bodies.

    The method for returning six members to the second term of the Legislative Council by the Election Committee was the block vote system — each member of the Election Committee was required to cast six votes and the result was determined by a simple majority. After the end of the second term of office of the Legislative Council, the Election Committee will no longer be responsible for returning members of the Legislative Council. The six seats thus released will be filled by members returned from geographical constituencies.