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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Answer

Mr. Faulds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his oral answer of 15 January, Official Report, columns 311-12, if he will list the provisions of the joint declaration and the Basic Law which envisage an elected legislative council for Hong Kong. [17527] Mr. Hanley: Sentence 49 of the joint declaration and its annexes provides that: "The legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be constituted by elections". Article 68 of the Basic Law provides that: "The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be constituted by election. "The method for forming the Legislative Council shall be specified in the light of the actual situation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress. The ultimate aim is the election of all the members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage." "The specific method for forming the Legislative Council and its procedures for voting on bills and motions are prescribed in Annex II: "Method for the Formation of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Its Voting Procedures." Annex II to the Basic Law describes the planned development in the composition of the HKSAR Legislative Council in its second and third terms, progressing to election of 30 seats by functional constituency and 30 by geographic constituency through direct elections in the third term. It does not specify the level of development after the third term, but does stipulate a mechanism to enable such further development to be made. Copies of the joint declaration and the Basic Law have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

17527; 291 c147W;291 c146-7W

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Democracy Hong Kong Legislatures Hong Kong Legislative Council