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HKSAR LegCo Election
I. Introduction
Under the Basic Law, the Legislative Council is the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The powers and functions that the Legislative Council is to exercise are specified in Article 73 of the Basic Law. They include:
(a) to enact laws;
(b) to examine and approve budgets, taxation and public expenditure;
(c) to receive and debate the policy addresses of the Chief Executive;
(d) to raise questions on the work of the government;
(e) to debate issues concerning public interests; and
(f) to receive and handle complaints from Hong Kong residents.
II. Constitution of the Legislative Council
The fifth term Legislative Council has 70 seats, 35 members are returned by geographical constituencies, and the remaining 35 by functional constituencies including five from the new District Council (second) functional constituency. The fifth term of office of the Legislative Council began on October 1, 2012. The term of office is four years.
Regarding geographical constituency election, the territory of Hong Kong is divided into five geographical constituencies, i.e. Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West, Kowloon East, New Territories West and New Territories East. Each constituency returns a specified number (on the basis of the size of population residing in the constituency) of Legislative Council members. The list voting system operating under the largest remainder formula applies in the geographical constituency elections. This is a form of proportional representation, capable of producing election results which reflect more accurately voter preferences.
Regarding functional constituency election, there are 29 functional constituencies returning a total of 35 members. These functional constituencies represent sectors which are substantial and important to the development of the community. Each of the functional constituencies returns one member, with the exception of the labour functional constituency and the District Council (second functional) constituency which return three and five respectively. The first-past-the-post voting system is used in the elections of the majority of functional constituencies. The list voting system is used in the election of the District Council (second functional) constituency.
III. The Fifth Term Legislative Council Elections
Election to the fifth term Legislative Council was held on 9 September 2012. A total of 287 candidates signed up for the poll. Of these, 216 competed for the 35 geographical constituency seats, and 55 for the 19 contested functional constituency seats. Sixteen candidates were elected unopposed in 14 functional constituencies.
The public participated actively in the elections. The number of voters who cast their votes and the respective turnout rates are set out below:
i) Geographical constituencies
Number of voters: 1,838,722
Turnout Rate: 53.05%
ii) Functional constituencies (other than District Council (second) Functional Constituency):
Number of voters: 151,124
Turnout Rate: 69.65%
iii) District Council (second) functional constituency:
Number of voters: 1,672,793
Turnout Rate: 51.95%
For more details on the Fifth Term Legislative Council Elections, please click here to visit the relevant website.
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