Legislative Council

LC Paper No. CB(2) 2244/98-99

Ref: CB2/SS/7/98

Purpose

This paper reports on the deliberations of the Subcommittee on subsidiary legislation relating to District Councils election on the Declaration of Constituencies (Dictrict Councils) Order 1999.

The Subcommittee

2. Chaired by Hon Andrew WONG, the Subcommittee is responsible for studying all the subsidiary legislation relating to the District Councils election in 1999. The membership of the Subcommittee is in Appendix.

3. The Subcommittee submitted its first report on the deliberations on the District Councils (Subscribers and Election Deposit for Nomination) Regulation, the Maximum Scale of Election Expenses (District Councils) Order 1999 and the Electoral Affairs Commission (Nominations Advisory Committees (District Councils)) Regulation on 28 May 1999.

4. The Subcommittee held a meeting with the Administration on 7 June 1999 to discuss the Declaration of Constituencies (Dictrict Councils) Order 1999.

Declaration of Constituencies (Dictrict Councils) Order 1999 (Order)

5. Made under section 6(1) of the District Councils Ordinance, the Order (L.N. 131 of 1999) declares the areas within the Districts to be constituencies for the purposes of election to elect the members of the District Councils established for those Districts and gives names to those constituencies.

The deliberations of the Subcommittee

6. The main deliberations of the Subcommittee are summarized below.

7. Members have noted, inter alia, that the primary consideration of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) in making its provisional recommendations on the delineation of constituencies for District Councils election was to ensure that the population criterion was complied with, and that the boundaries of the 1994 District Board constituencies should form the basis of the current delineation exercise. EAC conducted a public consultation on its provisional recommendations from 22 March to 17 April 1999. The Report of EAC containing its final recommendations was submitted to the Chief Executive on 15 May 1999. The Report was tabled in the Legislative Council on 2 June 1999.

8. According to the Administration, the final recommendations of EAC have been entirely adopted. Out of the 390 constituencies in the 18 Districts, there are 204 constituencies the boundaries of which are the same as the 1994 Disctrict Board boundaries. As a result of public consultation, EAC has adjusted the boundaries of 49 constituencies and the names of five constituencies.

Recommendation

9. The Subcommittee recommends that the Declaration of Constituencies (District Councils) Order 1999 be supported.

Advice sought

10. Members are invited to support the recommendation of the Subcommittee in paragraph 9 above.


Legislative Council Secretariat
8 June 1999

Appendix

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Please refer to Chinese version