Legislative Council of Hong Kong 香港立法會
4th Legislative Council
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
President of the Legislative Council	Jasper Tsang Yok Sing, DAB since 8 October 2008
Structure
Members	60
Political groups	Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (1) Civic Party (5) Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (10) Democratic Party (9) Federation of Trade Unions (4) League of Social Democrats (3) Liberal Party (3) Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre (1)
Election
Last election	7 September 2008
Meeting place
Legislative Council Building, Central, Hong Kong
Website
legco.gov.hk

Coordinates: 22°16′51.41″N 114°09′36.65″E / 22.2809472°N 114.1601806°E / 22.2809472; 114.1601806 The Legislative Council, or LegCo (English pronunciation: /ˈlɛdʒ.koʊ/ LEDGE-koh), is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong.

Contents 1 History 2 Building 3 People 3.1 President of the Legislative Council 3.2 Members of the Legislative Council 3.3 Seating arrangement 3.4 Officers of the Legislative Council 4 Organisation 4.1 Voting 4.2 Implications of voting regime 5 Constituencies 5.1 Geographical constituencies 5.2 Functional constituencies 5.3 Election Committee 6 See also 7 External links 8 References

[edit] History

Legislative Council
Traditional Chinese	立法會
Simplified Chinese	立法会
Transliterations Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Lìfǎ Huì Cantonese - Jyutping laap6 faat3 wui5
Name before 1997
Chinese	立法局
Transliterations Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Lìfǎ Jú Cantonese - Jyutping laap6 faat3 guk6

The Legislative Council of Hong Kong was created in 1843 under the authority of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Hong Kong's first constitution ^[1], in the form of Queen Victoria's Letters Patent, was entitled the "Charter of the Colony of Hong Kong" and authorised the establishment of the Legislative Council to advise the the Governor's administration. Initially the Council had 4 official members.

The first direct election of the Legislative Council was held in 1991. In 1996, a Provisional Legislative Council‎ was unilaterally founded in Guangzhou by the People's Republic of China to replace the Legislative Council after the transfer of the sovereignty. The Legislative Council was suspended from 1997 until 1998 and temporarily replaced by the Provisional Legislative Council‎. The Provisional Council ceased operation within a year and the Legislative Council resumed its operation in 1998.

[edit] Building

Since 1985, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong has been housed in the Legislative Council Building, the former Supreme Court building, in Central Hong Kong. The statue on the Legislative Council Building is a replica of the one erected on the Old Bailey of London - a depiction of the goddess of justice, Themis, a legacy from the former Supreme Court.

Before 1985, the Legco met at other locations:

• Former French Mission Building 1843–1846
• Caine Road 1846–?
• Government House, Hong Kong 1855; used ballroom after 1891
• Old Central Government Offices 1930s until 1954
• Central Government Offices 1957–1985^{[citation needed]}

A new complex, to house the Legislative Council and its supporting library and offices, is planned for construction on the Tamar site, the site of the Royal Navy's former HMS Tamar base. The new complex will comprise a low block containing the Legislative Council chamber, and a high block for lawmaker's offices and the council secretariat. The project is scheduled for completion in mid-2011.^[2]

[edit] People

[edit] President of the Legislative Council

From the Legislative Council's establishment in 1843 to 1993, the Governor had always been the President and Member of the Council, and until 1917 the Governor was required to act with the advice but not necessarily the consent of the Legislative Council. The Letters Patent of 1917 changed this by requiring the Governor to act "with advice and consent" of the Council.

The President is the speaker of the council. The current president is Jasper Tsang, since 8 October 2008.

[edit] Members of the Legislative Council

The following table shows the distribution of council members and their political parties. For the list of current members of Legistative Council, see Hong Kong legislative election, 2008. All members of the LegCo are eligible to be addressed with the title of "The Honourable".

e • d Summary of the 7 September 2008 Legislative Council of Hong Kong election results

Parties		Votes	%	Geographical constituencies	Functional constituencies	Total seats	+/-
Pan-Democrats	Democratic Party	312,692	20.63%	7	1	8	−1
	Civic Party	206,980	13.66%	4	1	5	N/A
	League of Social Democrats	153,390	10.1%	3	0	3	N/A
	Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre of Senators	42,441	2.8%	1	0	1	0
	Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions	42,366	2.8%	1	0	1	0
	Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood	42,211	2.79%	1	1	2	+1
	The Frontier	33,205	2.19%	1	0	1	0
	Civic Act-up	30,887	2.04%	1	0	1	+1
	Pro-democracy individuals and others	5,293	0.35%	0	1	1	−3
Total for pan-democrats		869,465	57.37% (58.99%)	19	4	23	-2
Pro-Beijing	Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong	453,598	29.93%	9	4	13[3]	+3
	Liberal Party	65,622	4.33%	0	7	7[4][5]	−3
	Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions	0	0%	0	1	1[3]	-2
	The Alliance (Hong Kong)	0	0%	0	3	3	N/A
	Pro-Beijing individuals and others	85,531	5.64%	1	9	10	-2
Total for pro-Beijing camp		604,751	39.90% (41.01%)	10	24	34	-1
Independent	Councillors without formal affiliation with any political party	61,177	4.04%	1	2	3	+3
Total (turnout 45%)		1,515,479	100.0	30	30	60
Source: Hong Kong government
Note: Candidates in 14 functional constituencies were elected uncontested to the Legislative Council. The number of seats for the Federation of Trade Unions in the geographical constituencies exclude Wong Kwok-hing, Wong Kwok-kin and Pan Pey Chyou, who are also DAB members; figures in parentheses in the pro-democracy and pro-Beijing total percentage exclude all votes of other individuals.

[edit] Seating arrangement

Members of the Legislative Council are seated to the left and front of the President's chair in the chambers. The three rows to the right are reserved for the secretaries and other civil servants of the government, and other people whom appear in the meetings.

Unlike many other former (or current) Commonwealth legislatures, the Hong Kong Legislative Council does not have a ceremonial mace placed in its chambers. However, the high courts of Hong Kong use a mace to open sessions and represents the authority and powers of the court.

[edit] Officers of the Legislative Council

Assisting the President are the officers of the Legco. The Clerk sits to the left of the President. The remaining officers at the large desk in the centre of the Council are the Deputy Clerk, Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General. While the Clerk faces the same direction as the President, the 3 remaining officer have chairs facing away from the President. When the CE (or Governor) is in Council, he or she will address from either a podium in front of the President or to the right of the President.^{[citation needed] [6]}

[edit] Organisation

Politics and government of Hong Kong
Basic Law Government   Chief Executive - Donald Tsang   Chief Secretary - Henry Tang   Financial Secretary - John Tsang   Secretary for Justice -     Wong Yan Lung   Accountability System   Political appointees   Executive Council   Depts and related organisations Legislative Council   Geographical constituency   Functional constituency Elections Political parties Judiciary   Court of Final Appeal District Council Human rights Foreign relations Universal suffrage
Other Hong Kong topics
Culture - Economy Education - Geography - History Hong Kong Portal

The term of office of a legislator is four years in length, except for the first term from 1998 to 2000 which was set at two years (Article 69, Basic Law).

In the 2004 election, 30 members were directly elected by universal suffrage from geographical constituencies (GC) and 30 were elected from functional constituencies. In the previous election in 2000, 24 were directly elected, 6 elected from an 800-member electoral college called the Election Committee of Hong Kong, and 30 elected from functional constituencies. The method of election after 2007 has not been specified. The Basic Law states that the ultimate aim is the election of all the Legco members by universal suffrage (Article 68 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong).

[edit] Voting

Traditionally, the President does not vote. However, this convention is not a constitutional requirement.^[7]

Private members' bills and motions have to be passed by a simple majority vote of each of the two groups of members present - members returned from geographical constituencies and members returned from functional constituencies. This arrangement, however, is not necessary for government bills, with only a simple majority required to secure passage.

Amendments to ordinary bills require a simple majority in each group, giving either group a veto. Meanwhile, Hong Kong Basic Law amendment bills require consent from two-thirds of all the members in the LegCo. Furthermore, the amendment bills must also receive the consent from two-thirds of Hong Kong's deputies to the National People's Congress and from the Chief Executive. After all, amendment bills will be submitted to the National People's Congress by the delegation.

[edit] Implications of voting regime

Whilst the pro-government party vote usually outnumbers the pro-democracy votes, and thus allow passage of most legislation, the 2005 electoral reform package was blocked when the democrats, wielding 25 votes, caused the government to fall short of the two-thirds majority required for this amendment to the Basic Law. Professor DeGolyer of Baptist University said that by "buying 15 functional constituency members' loyalty, the Government can block amendments to any bills, [which may account for the often] nonsensical budget decisions and puzzling allocations.^[7]

[edit] Constituencies

[edit] Geographical constituencies

The GC seats are returned by universal suffrage. The voting system adopted in these electoral districts is a system of party-list proportional representation (PR), with seats allocated by the largest remainder method using the Hare quota as the quota for election. The system is widely considered to give representative legislatures. There were 3.06 million registered voters.

Geographical constituencies	No. of Seats
	*1998	2000	2004	2008
Hong Kong Island	4	5	6	6
Kowloon East	3	4	5	4
Kowloon West	3	4	4	5
New Territories East	5	5	7	7
New Territories West	5	6	8	8
Total	20	24	30	30

• Provisional Legislative Council‎

[edit] Functional constituencies

There are 28 functional constituencies (FC) represented in LegCo, representing various sectors of the community which were considered playing a crucial role in the development of Hong Kong.

In the 2000 election, 27 of the FCs returned 1 member, except the Labour functional constituency which returned 3 members, giving a total of 30 FC seats.

Heung Yee Kuk Agriculture and fisheries Insurance Financial services Transport Accountancy Finance Education Legal Information technology Medical Health services Architectural, surveying and planning Real estate and construction

Social welfare Tourism Commercial (first) Commercial (second) Industrial (first) Industrial (second) Import and export Wholesale and retail Textiles and garment Sport, performing arts, culture and publication Catering District Council Labour

A simple plurality system was used for 23 of the FCs, in which an eligible voter may cast one vote. The exceptions were Labour FC in which a voter may cast up to three votes, thereby creating a block vote, and the Heung Yee Kuk, Agriculture and Fisheries, Insurance, and Transport FCs where a preferential elimination system was used due to the small number of voters. In the latter a voter must indicate preferences rather than approval/disapproval or a single choice.

[edit] Election Committee

10 LegCo members were returned by the Election Committee (EC) in the 1998 election, and 6 in the 2000 election, in accordance with Annex II of the Basic Law. Now this college of electors is used only to elect the Chief Executive. There are 800 members in the EC, coming from four sectors with 200 members each. (Basic Law, Ann.1, Sect. 2)

• Industrial, commercial and financial sectors
• The professions
• Labour, social services, religious and other sectors
• Members of the LegCo, representatives of district-based organisations, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC), and representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Most of the 800 EC members were returned by earlier sub-sector elections. The 6 LegCo members were chosen by a "first-past-the-post" system, with each EC member casting a vote to choose exactly 6 candidates among themselves.

[edit] See also

• Provisional Legislative Council
• Politics of Hong Kong
• Hong Kong Legislative Council elections, 2004
• Hong Kong Legislative Council elections, 2008
• Executive Council of Hong Kong

[edit] External links

• Legislative Council of Hong Kong
• Electoral Affairs Commission

v • d • e Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (2008–2012) President Jasper Tsang (from the geographical constituency of Hong Kong Island) Geographical constituencies Hong Kong Island: Cyd Ho  · Kam Nai-wai  · Tanya Chan  · Audrey Eu  · Regina Ip Kowloon East: Chan Kam-lam  · Alan Leong  · Fred Li  · Wong Kwok-kin Kowloon West: Starry Lee  · James To  · Priscilla Leung  · Raymond Wong  · Frederick Fung New Territories East: Emily Lau  · Wong Sing Chi  · Leung Kwok-hung  · Andrew Cheng  · Ronny Tong  · Lau Kong Wah  · Gary Chan New Territories West: Lee Cheuk-yan  · Tam Yiu-chung  · Cheung Hok Ming  · Albert Ho  · Albert Chan  · Wong Kwok-hing  · Leung Yiu-chung  · Lee Wing Tat Functional constituencies Chan Kin-por  · Paul Chan  · Cheung Kwok Che  · Cheung Man Kwong  · Tommy Cheung  · Chim Pui Chung  · Vincent Fang  · Timothy Fok  · Raymond Ho  · Ip Kwok Him  · Ip Wai Ming  · Jeffrey Lam  · Lam Tai-fai  · Miriam Lau  · Patrick Lau  · Lau Wong-fat  · Lee Kok-long  · Andrew Leung  · Leung Ka Lau  · Sophie Leung  · David Li  · Li Fung Ying  · Margaret Ng  · Pan Pey Chyou  · Abraham Razack  · Samson Tam  · Paul Tse  · Philip Wong  · Wong Ting-kwong  · Wong Yung-kan

v • d • e Parliament of Asia Sovereign states Afghanistan · Armenia1 · Azerbaijan1 · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Burma2 · Cambodia · People's Republic of China · Cyprus1 · East Timor3 · Egypt4 · Georgia4 · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan4 · North Korea · South Korea · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Nepal · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia4 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · Sri Lanka · Syria · Tajikistan · Republic of China5 · Thailand · Turkey4 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · Yemen Dependencies, autonomies, other territories Aceh · Adjara1 · Abkhazia1 · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Altai · British Indian Ocean Territory · Buryatia · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Guangxi · Hong Kong · Inner Mongolia · Iraqi Kurdistan · Jakarta · Khakassia · Macau · Nagorno-Karabakh · Nakhchivan · Ningxia · Northern Cyprus · Palestine · Papua · Sakha · South Ossetia1 · Tibet · Tuva · West Papua · Xinjiang · Yogyakarta Italics indicates an unrecognised or partially recognised country.  1 Sometimes included in Europe, depending on the border definitions.  2 Officially known as Myanmar.  3 Sometimes included in Oceania, and also known as Timor-Leste.  4 Transcontinental country.  5 Commonly known as Taiwan.

[edit] References