Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Liberal Studies Independent Enquiry Study Report Standard Covering Page (for written reports and short written texts of non-written reports starting from 2017) Enquiry Question: Should Functional Constituency elections in the Legislative Council be abolished? Year of Examination: Name of Student: Class/ Group: Class Number: Number of words in the report: 3162 Notes: 1. Written reports should not exceed 4500 words. The reading time for non-written reports should not exceed 20 minutes and the short written texts accompanying non-written reports should not exceed 1000 words. The word count for written reports and the short written texts does not include the covering page, the table of contents, titles, graphs, tables, captions and headings of photos, punctuation marks, footnotes, endnotes, references, bibliography and appendices. 2. Candidates are responsible for counting the number of words in their reports and the short written texts and indicating it accurately on this covering page. 3. If the Independent Enquiry Study Report of a student is selected for review by the School-Based Assessment System, the school should ensure that the student’s name, class/ group and class number have been deleted from the report before submitting it to the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. Schools should also ensure that the identities of both the schools and students are not disclosed in the reports. For non-written reports, the identities of the students and schools, including the appearance of the students, should be deleted. Sample 1 Table of Contents A. Problem Definition P.3 B. Relevant Concepts and Knowledge/ Facts/ Data P.5 C. In-depth Explanation of the Issue P.9 D. Judgment and Justification P.13 References P.18 2 A. Problem Definition The Functional Constituencies (FCs) have long been criticized without high representativeness and violate the principle of democracy. Many people in the society ask for the abolition of it. According to the recent political reform package, if the 2017 Chief Executive election in Hong Kong conducted by universal suffrage, the Legislative Council elections in 2020 could also be conducted by universal suffrage.1 It is arguable whether the FCs are incompatible or compatible with universal suffrage. Therefore, whether to retain or abolish the Functional Constituency elections in the Legislative Council is a controversial issue and there are divided views in the community. The FC first developed in the release of "Green Paper: A Pattern of District Administration in Hong Kong" in July 1984.2 The introduction of FCs was part of an overall plan to develop representative government in Hong Kong, and in Legislative Council (LegCo) particularly, during the final years of British sovereignty. 3 In the White Paper on the Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong 19844, there are some objectives: first, the system of representative government rooted in the community and be accountable to Hong Kong people; second, to ensure broadly based selection method for the LegCo., third, to provide a foundation for further development in composition and selection method in the LegCo. It was a transitional arrangement before handover and acted as a buffer between direct and indirect elections.5 Hong Kong society now is ready for a directly elected legislature as people are more aware of their political rights and freedoms in recent years. The community as a whole is better informed. Direct elections have been practiced for almost three decades and all the past elections held were smooth and peaceful. The importance of FCs in Hong Kong has been greatly declined and the demands for direct elections in the LegCo have been increasing among Hong Kong people. Therefore, it is a debate on the abolition of the FC elections in the LegCo. In 2012, the new arrangement in the Legislative Council election seems broaden the electoral base of the Functional Constituencies election. However, the existing traditional Functional Constituencies in the Legislation Council election are still undemocratic and hinder the democratic development. The aim of this report is to evaluate whether the FCs should be abolished in the Legislation Council election by analyzing the relationship between the principles of universal suffrage and 1 Methods for selecting the Chief Executive in 2014 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2016 Public consultation, http://www.2017.gov.hk/en/home/index.html 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_constituency_(Hong_Kong) 3 A Critical Introduction to Hong Kong's Functional Constituencies Functional Constituency Research Project 2004 http://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/118843 4 White Paper: The Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong, cited in A Critical Introduction to Hong Kong's Functional Constituencies Functional Constituency Research Project 2004 http://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/118843 5 A Critical Introduction to Hong Kong's Functional Constituencies Functional Constituency Research Project 2004 http://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/118843 3 functional constituencies, the arrangement and electoral base of the FCs, the performance and the popularity of FCs lawmakers, etc. 4 B. Relevant Concepts and Knowledge/ Facts/ Data Legislative Council arrangement Currently, according to the 2012 LegCo election arrangement, there are 30 elected by 28 traditional FCs, whereas 40 out of the 70 Legislative Council seats are directly elected by the general public (35 through Geographical Constituencies (GCs) and 5 through District Council (Second) functional constituency). The details see the table below 6 Composition (70 seats) - 35 members to be returned from Geographical Constituencies (GCs) - 35 members to be returned from Functional Constituencies (FCs) Geographical Constituencies (“GCs”) (35 seats) (1) Hong Kong Island 7 seats (2) Kowloon West 5 seats (3) Kowloon East 5 seats (4) New Territories West 9 seats (5) New Territories East 9 seats Voting system: List system of proportional representation Functional Constituencies (“FCs”) (35 seats) (1) Heung Yee Kuk* 1 seat (2) Agriculture and Fisheries* 1 seat (3) Insurance* 1 seat (4) Transport* 1 seat (5) Education 1 seat (6) Legal 1 seat (7) Accountancy 1 seat (8) Medical 1 seat (9) Health Services 1 seat (10) Engineering 1 seat (11) Architectural, Surveying and Planning 1 seat (12) Labour 3 seats (13) Social Welfare 1 seat (14) Real Estate and Construction 1 seat (15) Tourism 1 seat (16) Commercial (first) 1 seat 6 http://www.elections.gov.hk/legco2012/eng/facts.html#Composition 5 (17) Commercial (second) 1 seat (18) Industrial (first) 1 seat (19) Industrial (second) 1 seat (20) Finance 1 seat (21) Financial Services 1 seat (22) Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and 1 seat Publication (23) Import and Export 1 seat (24) Textiles and Garment 1 seat (25) Wholesale and Retail 1 seat (26) Information Technology 1 seat (27) Catering 1 seat (28) District Council (first) 1 seat (29) District Council (second) 5 seats Voting systems: Different voting systems apply to different FCs, namely (a) for the 4 special FCs (marked with * ), the preferential elimination system of voting; (b) for the District Council (second) functional constituency (“DC (second) FC”), the list system of proportional representation; and (c) for the remaining 24 ordinary FCs, the first-past-the-post voting system. Number of electors Geographical Constituencies: 3,466,201 Functional Constituencies: 240,735* * Excluding 3,219,755 electors of the District Council (second) functional constituency Election arrangement of LegCo in the Basic Law Regarding the method for forming the Legislative Council, Article 68 of the Basic Law stipulates that “... 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.” Therefore, implementing universal suffrage ultimately is a requirement under the Basic Law. In additional, it is required that the constitutional development in HKSAR should adhere to the following 4 main principles under the Basic Law7: first, meeting the interests of different sectors of society; second, facilitating the development of the capitalist economy; third, gradual and orderly progress and forth, appropriate to the actual situation in the HKSAR. It shows the arrangement of 7 Methods for selecting the Chief Executive in 2014 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2016 Public consultation http://www.2017.gov.hk/en/home/index.html 6 the political arrangement in the LegCo need to follow the requirement in the Basic Law and it shows the progress to democracy and universal suffrage ultimately. The principle of balanced participation8 The principles of balanced participation ensure wide acceptance and support to the political system, and hence maintain political stability as well as sustainable and orderly democratization. Different countries have different perceptions of and planning for balanced participation and according to their own conditions. While respecting the dignity and freedom of choice of individuals, the design of the political structure and electoral systems of a place are determined by other factors such as its own national conditions, history, tradition and culture, state of economy, ethnic characteristics and established values. Therefore, it requires an open discussion to decide the meaning