Legislative Council of Hong Kong

The Legislative Council of Hong Kong (立法會, abbreviated LegCo) is the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

Constituencies

Geographical constituencies

The GC seats are returned by universal suffrage. The voting system adopted in these electoral districts is a system of party-list proportional representation (PR), with seats allocated by the largest remainder method using the Hare quota as the quota for election. The system is widely considered to give representative legislatures. There were 3.06 million registered voters.

Related Topics:
Universal suffrage - Party-list proportional representation - Largest remainder method - Hare quota

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Geographical ConstituencyNo. of Seats

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

20002004

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hong Kong Island56

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kowloon East45

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kowloon West44

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New Territories East57

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New Territories West68

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Total2430

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Functional constituencies

(Compare with 'business votes' in the City of London)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are 28 functional constituencies (FC) represented in LegCo, representing various sectors of the community which were considered playing a crucial role in the development of Hong Kong.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the 2000 election, 27 of the FCs returned 1 member, except the Labour functional constituency which returned 3 members, giving a total of 30 FC seats.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Heung Yee Kuk
• Agriculture and fisheries
• Insurance
• Financial services
• Transport
• Accountancy
• Finance
• Education
• Legal
• Information technology
• Medical
• Health services
• Architectural, surveying and planning
• Real estate and construction
• Social welfare
• Tourism
• Commercial (first)
• Commercial (second)
• Industrial (first)
• Industrial (second)
• Import and export
• Wholesale and retail
• Textiles and garment
• Sport, performing arts, culture and publication
• Catering
• District Council
• Labour

A simple plurality system was used for 23 of the FCs, in which an eligible voter may cast one vote. The exceptions were Labour FC in which a voter may cast up to three votes, thereby creating a block vote, and the Heung Yee Kuk, Agriculture and Fisheries, Insurance, and Transport FCs where a preferential elimination system was used due to the small number of voters. In the latter a voter must indicate preferences rather than approval/disapproval or a single choice.

Related Topics:
Simple plurality - Block vote - Preferential elimination system

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Election Committee

10 LegCo members and were returned by the Election Committee (EC) in the 1998 election, and 6 in the 2000 election, in accordance with Annex II of the Basic Law. Now this college of electors is used only to elect the Chief Executive. There are 800 members in the EC, coming from four sectors with 200 members each. (Basic Law, Ann.1, Sect. 2)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Industrial, commercial and financial sectors
• The professions
• Labour, social services, religious and other sectors
• Members of the LegCo, representatives of district-based organisations, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC), and representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Most of the 800 EC members were returned by earlier sub-sector elections. The 6 LegCo members were chosen by a "first past the post" system, with each EC member casting a vote to choose exactly 6 candidates among themselves.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~