Policy Statement & Submission

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is of the view that the Government's proposals for the methods for selecting the Chief Executive (CE) and for forming the Legislative Council (Legco) in 2012 are a pragmatic way forward, and are therefore worth supporting. The Chamber, and the business community in general, wants to see progress on political reforms; we do not want to see the process stall.
The proposal to add 10 new seats to Legco in 2012, with five new geographical constituency seats, and five new functional constituency seats for District Councillors to elect among themselves, will enhance the democratic credentials of the Legco.

While the Chamber is of the view that we should not be distracted from the discussion on electoral arrangements for 2012, we would like to highlight that the community as a whole should address two important issues sooner rather later, namely the evolution of the functional constituencies and the political affiliation of the CE. We are of the view that after the electoral arrangements for 2012 are finalized, the Government should start engaging the community on discussing these two issues. We would like to stress that, above all, further changes to the electoral arrangements for the CE and the Legco beyond 2012 should be gradual and orderly, as well as reflect the principle of balanced participation.

Functional Constituencies

The future of the functional constituencies is a complicated subject which needs to be reviewed and debated in detail. At this stage, we are of the view that it suffices to highlight the following:

- Functional constituencies have been providing the Legco with members of different professional, business and community backgrounds, enhancing the quality of debate and providing the necessary expertise in scrutinising bills and policies. Functional constituencies should be maintained, but in time we should consider how their present form may evolve to meet the requirements of universality and equality, while at the same time keeping in line with the spirit of balanced participation.

- In time we hope to see an informed, community-wide discussion of possible ways for broadening the voter base of functional constituencies. We may discuss different proposals, such as, but not limited to, the suggestion of "one-person, two-votes". In addition, more discussion may be needed on related matters such as the nomination arrangements for functional constituencies if reforms such as "one-person, two votes" are implemented. It must be emphasised that the process of change should be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Political Affiliation of the CE
The requirement, as stipulated in the Chief Executive Election Ordinance, that the CE is not allowed to belong to any political party is something which ought to be seriously addressed in future discussions of constitutional reform.

A present, the Government does not have any secured support in the Legco. The entire Legco is effectively a grand opposition. It requires renewed negotiations between the Government and the political parties for every new policy and legislation. This situation is clearly not beneficial to good governance and efficient policy-making.

If the CE is backed by his own party in the Legco, policy-making and governance on a whole will be far more efficient. Indeed, under the current proportional voting system, it is unlikely that there will be a majority party in the Legco. But that does not take away the point regarding the positive impact on the political process if the CE is allowed to belong to a political party. The CE's party can be a leading member of a governing coalition in the Legco, as how multi-party coalitions operate in some European democracies. In addition, the CE should also be able to nominate at least some of the principal officials from among like-minded legislators belonging to the coalition, so as to further cement the link between the administration and the legislature.

If the CE is allowed to be a member of a political party, it follows that the Government will need to look at matters related to governance of political parties, in order to build public confidence in political parties as an institution in the political system.


Electoral Arrangements for the Selection of CE in 2012

Expanding the Election Committee

The Chamber sees that the expansion of the Election Committee from 800 members to 1200 in 2012 as the right direction to go. The existing Election Committee is broadly representative and the demarcation and composition of its four sectors are in line with the principle of balanced participation. As such the four sectors and the number of subsectors should be kept intact, and upon this basis, we agree that the number of members of the four sectors in 2012 should be increased by the same proportion. Within each of the four sectors, the distribution of the 100 new seats should be pro-rated according to the current share of seats of each subsector, on the basis of no additional subsectors.

New Seats Allocated to the Fourth Sector

The Chamber supports the proposal that most of the new seats allocated to the fourth sector of the Election Committee be given to District Council members.

Nominating Candidates

The Chamber is of the view that the current nomination threshold should be maintained at the ratio of one-eighth of the total membership of the Election Committee. As all of the four sectors will get the same number of new seats if the Government's proposal is to be implemented, it is logical to maintain the threshold at the ratio of one-eighth of the total membership of the Election Committee. As regards the number of subscribers, we also do not see the need to set an upper limit.


Methods for Forming the Legco in 2012

Number of New Seats and Electoral Base

The Chamber agrees that 10 new seats should be added to the Legco in 2012, with five new seats in geographical constituencies and five new functional constituency seats for District Councillors to elect among themselves.

Permanent residents not of Chinese nationality or permanent residents who have right of abode in foreign countries

The Chamber believes it is important to maintain the existing arrangement that permanent residents who are not of Chinese nationality or permanent residents who have right of abode in foreign countries may stand in the elections for functional constituency seats. We feel strongly that the arrangement reflects Hong Kong's inclusive and pluralistic culture as an international city and a major financial centre.

According to the Basic Law, the proportion of Legco members who are not of Chinese nationality or permanent residents who have right of abode in foreign countries shall not exceed 20% of the total membership. Following the Basic Law, the Legislative Council Ordinance stipulates that members of this group of residents can participate in Legco elections through 12 specified functional constituencies. If the Legco is to be expanded to 70 members, the number of seats in this category should be increased accordingly to 14. Ways should be found to identify two more existing functional constituency seats to be included in this category.