China News Service, Hong Kong, May 27th (Reporter Zeng Ping) In accordance with the relevant decisions of the National People’s Congress of China and the amendments to Annex I and Annex II of the Hong Kong Basic Law by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region amended relevant local laws and passed by the Legislative Council on the 27th. The Improvement of the Electoral System (Consolidated Amendment) Bill 2021.
In an interview in March, Zhang Yong, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, used the "restructuring" and "increasing empowerment" of the Election Committee (Election Committee) to express the overall idea of improving the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region election system.
The amendment to the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region also reflects this master plan design.
After the "restructuring" of the election committee, its size increased from 1,200 to 1,500, and the sector expanded from four sectors to five sectors, each sector maintained 300 people, including the first category: business, finance ; The second category: the professional sector; the third category: the grassroots, labor, and religious sectors; the fourth category: legislators, representatives of regional organizations, and other sectors; and the new fifth category: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region nationwide Deputies to the National People's Congress, members of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Hong Kong members of relevant national organizations
The subsectors of the Election Committee increased from 38 to 40. Some subsectors were newly added, and some subsectors were cancelled and optimized.
The "increased empowerment" of the Election Committee means that it continues to retain its function of electing candidates for the Chief Executive, while at the same time increasing the two new functions of electing members of the Legislative Council and participating in nominating candidates for the Legislative Council.
The election committee members continue to use the original three methods, including ex-officio members, nominated members and elected members.
Among the elected members, with the exception of several subsectors such as Heung Yee Kuk who are elected by individual voters, the members of other subsectors are all elected by corporate voters.
The Election Committee has established a new convener system to be responsible for convening meetings of the Election Committee when necessary.
Under the new system, what changes will be made in the election of the chief executive?
The Chief Executive candidate was originally nominated by a total of not less than 150 members of the Election Committee to be nominated by no less than 188 members of the Election Committee, and each of the five sectors participated in the nomination There are no less than 15 members.
The Election Committee elects the chief executive candidate by secret ballot of one person, one vote, and the candidate must obtain the support of a majority of all members of the Election Committee.
Due to the increase in the number of members of the Election Committee, the number of candidates elected "Menlan" has increased from more than 600 votes to more than 750 votes.
Under the new system, what changes will be made in the election of the SAR Legislative Council?
The number of seats in the Legislative Council has increased from 70 to 90 per session.
An additional 40 seats will be elected by the Election Committee. Any eligible voter who has reached the age of 21 and ordinarily resided in Hong Kong within 3 years prior to the nomination can be nominated as a candidate. The candidate does not need to be a member of the Election Committee.
The Election Committee conducts a secret ballot based on the nomination list. The number of members selected by each ballot is equal to the number of elected members. The 40 candidates with more votes are elected.
The number of seats elected by the functional constituencies of the Legislative Council has been reduced from 35 to 30.
Under the new system, there are 28 functional constituencies, including agriculture and fisheries; Heung Yee Kuk; industry (first); industry (second); textiles and clothing; business (first); business (second) ); Business (third); finance; financial services; insurance; real estate and construction; shipping and transportation; import and export; tourism; catering; wholesale and retail; technological innovation; engineering; construction , Surveying, urban planning and gardens; accounting; legal; education; sports, performing arts, culture and publishing; medical and health; social welfare; labor; representatives of the National People’s Congress of Hong Kong, members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Relevant national organizations represent circles.
Except for the labor sector, which has 3 seats, all other sectors have 1 seat.
There are 20 seats for direct elections in the Legislative Council, and the number of constituencies increased from 5 to 10. Each constituency elects two members, and voters select one candidate by secret ballot based on the nomination list, and the two candidates with the most votes Was elected.
The new election system adds a candidate qualification review system.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Candidate Qualification Review Committee is responsible for reviewing and confirming the qualifications of candidates for election committee members, candidates for the Chief Executive and candidates for the Legislative Council.
In the next few months after the improvement of the electoral system, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will hold three elections, including the subsector elections of the Election Committee on September 19 this year, the seventh Legislative Council elections on December 19 this year, and March 27 next year. The sixth chief executive election is held.
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