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The Government presented the District Councils Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Order 2010 to the Legislative Council (LegCo) today (September 29) to implement the proposed addition of seven elected seats on six District Councils (DCs).
The allocation of the seven newly-added elected seats is as follows -
(a) one more seat for each DC in Kwun Tong, Yau Tsim Mong, Kwai Tsing, North District and Sai Kung; and
(b) two more seats for the Yuen Long DC.
A spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said that if the Order was approved by LegCo, the number of elected seats on the 18 DCs would increase from 405 to 412 from the fourth term DCs.
"We have undertaken an overall review on the number of elected seats for each DC having regard to the population forecast in Hong Kong in 2011. In the past three DC terms, the population quota (i.e. the average population-to-seat ratio) has been functioning well. Therefore, we propose that for the coming DC election, the population quota of 17,275 for the 2007 DC election should continue to be adopted. According to the forecast provided by the Planning Department, the total population of Hong Kong in mid-2011 is projected to increase to 7,120,200. Therefore, the total number of elected seats for the fourth term DCs should be 412 (7,120,200 ÷ 17,275), i.e. seven seats more than that of the current term.
"On the basis of the projected population of each district and the population quota, we have calculated the number of elected seats for each DC in 2011. The seven new seats will be allocated to six DCs where the calculated number of seats is higher than the existing number of seats by one or more seats.
"The Government consulted the LegCo Panel on Constitutional Affairs on the proposed addition of seats in July 2010. Members had no objection to the proposal," the spokesman said.
The number of elected seats on each DC is stipulated in Schedule 3 to the District Councils Ordinance. According to Section 8 of the Ordinance, the Chief Executive in Council may, subject to the approval of LegCo, amend the Schedule by order published in the Government Gazette in order to adjust the number of seats.
Ends/Wednesday, September 29, 2010
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