Provisional Recommendations on Boundaries and Names of Geographical Constituencies for the 2016 Legislative Council General Election
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Public Consultation
The 2016 Legislative Council ("LegCo") General Election will be held in the second half of 2016. The Electoral Affairs Commission ("EAC") has drawn up provisional recommendations on the boundaries and names of the geographical constituencies ("GCs") for the 2016 LegCo General Election. We invite your views on these provisional recommendations.
Background
In accordance with sections 4(a), 18 and 19 of the Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance (Chapter 541) (“EACO”), the EAC has to review the existing boundaries of GCs, organise a public consultation on its provisional recommendations and submit a report to the Chief Executive by 8 September 2015 on its final recommendations concerning the boundaries and names of GCs to be adopted in the 2016 LegCo General Election. The EAC has now drawn up the provisional recommendations on the boundaries and names of the GCs for the 2016 LegCo General Election in accordance with the statutory requirements stipulated under sections 18 and 19 of the Legislative Council Ordinance (Chapter 542)(“LCO”), the statutory criteria under section 20 of the EACO and a set of long-established working principles.
Delineation Exercise
The delineation exercise is basically composed of two parts. The first part concerns determination of the boundaries of GCs. According to the LCO, the number of GCs will remain at five for the purpose of returning Members at the 2016 LegCo General Election. The EAC notes that the existing GC boundaries have been adopted since the first term of LegCo in 1998 and members of the public are generally well accustomed to them in elections. Therefore, in the absence of any obvious and fundamental change in circumstances justifying alteration of the boundaries, the EAC recommends that the existing boundaries of the five GCs should be maintained. Before reaching this recommendation, the EAC has examined the possibility of re-delineating the boundaries of the five GCs with a view to achieving more even population distribution among them. However, given that the existing five GCs have come into existence since 1998 and there has not been a major shift in the territorial population distribution since the last LegCo general election, any suggestion to re-delineate their boundaries would definitely risk upsetting the long-established identities and community ties within each of the GCs and cause unnecessary confusion to electors in the coming election. Therefore, having carefully weighed the pros and cons, the EAC considers that the suggestion to re-delineate the boundaries to simply achieve a more balanced population distribution across the GCs would not be appropriate and should not be recommended.
The second part concerns allocation of seats among the proposed GCs having regard to their projected population. The LCO stipulates that, at a general election, 35 Members are to be returned for all the five GCs and the number of Members to be returned for each GC is to be a number which is not less than five nor greater than nine. Following the established process of delineation, the EAC has adopted a two-step method to allocate the 35 seats among the five proposed GCs with a view to ensuring that the population in each proposed GC is as near as practicable to the resulting number as required under section 20(1)(a) of the EACO. This is to ensure that the important principle of “equal representation” (i.e. equal number of people should have equal number of representatives) could be achieved in the delineation of GC boundaries. Details of the steps on the allocation of seats and a brief summary of the EAC’s provisional recommendations listing out the codes, names and projected population of the five proposed GCs can be viewed in this website.
In accordance with section 19 of the EACO, maps showing the boundaries and names of the proposed GCs and a document containing the descriptions of the proposed GC boundaries are available for public consultation for a period of 30 days from 21 May 2015 to 19 June 2015 (both dates inclusive). The maps and a document containing the descriptions of the proposed GC boundaries are available at this website for on-screen viewing. Copies of these Maps and Summary of the Provisional Recommendations on Geographical Constituencies are also available for public inspection during ordinary business / opening hours at the following places:
Public Consultation
Please send your written representations on the provisional recommendations to the EAC Secretariat by 19 June 2015, the latest through any of the following means:
The 2016 Legislative Council ("LegCo") General Election will be held in the second half of 2016. The Electoral Affairs Commission ("EAC") has drawn up provisional recommendations on the boundaries and names of the geographical constituencies ("GCs") for the 2016 LegCo General Election. We invite your views on these provisional recommendations.
Background
In accordance with sections 4(a), 18 and 19 of the Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance (Chapter 541) (“EACO”), the EAC has to review the existing boundaries of GCs, organise a public consultation on its provisional recommendations and submit a report to the Chief Executive by 8 September 2015 on its final recommendations concerning the boundaries and names of GCs to be adopted in the 2016 LegCo General Election. The EAC has now drawn up the provisional recommendations on the boundaries and names of the GCs for the 2016 LegCo General Election in accordance with the statutory requirements stipulated under sections 18 and 19 of the Legislative Council Ordinance (Chapter 542)(“LCO”), the statutory criteria under section 20 of the EACO and a set of long-established working principles.
Delineation Exercise
The delineation exercise is basically composed of two parts. The first part concerns determination of the boundaries of GCs. According to the LCO, the number of GCs will remain at five for the purpose of returning Members at the 2016 LegCo General Election. The EAC notes that the existing GC boundaries have been adopted since the first term of LegCo in 1998 and members of the public are generally well accustomed to them in elections. Therefore, in the absence of any obvious and fundamental change in circumstances justifying alteration of the boundaries, the EAC recommends that the existing boundaries of the five GCs should be maintained. Before reaching this recommendation, the EAC has examined the possibility of re-delineating the boundaries of the five GCs with a view to achieving more even population distribution among them. However, given that the existing five GCs have come into existence since 1998 and there has not been a major shift in the territorial population distribution since the last LegCo general election, any suggestion to re-delineate their boundaries would definitely risk upsetting the long-established identities and community ties within each of the GCs and cause unnecessary confusion to electors in the coming election. Therefore, having carefully weighed the pros and cons, the EAC considers that the suggestion to re-delineate the boundaries to simply achieve a more balanced population distribution across the GCs would not be appropriate and should not be recommended.
The second part concerns allocation of seats among the proposed GCs having regard to their projected population. The LCO stipulates that, at a general election, 35 Members are to be returned for all the five GCs and the number of Members to be returned for each GC is to be a number which is not less than five nor greater than nine. Following the established process of delineation, the EAC has adopted a two-step method to allocate the 35 seats among the five proposed GCs with a view to ensuring that the population in each proposed GC is as near as practicable to the resulting number as required under section 20(1)(a) of the EACO. This is to ensure that the important principle of “equal representation” (i.e. equal number of people should have equal number of representatives) could be achieved in the delineation of GC boundaries. Details of the steps on the allocation of seats and a brief summary of the EAC’s provisional recommendations listing out the codes, names and projected population of the five proposed GCs can be viewed in this website.
In accordance with section 19 of the EACO, maps showing the boundaries and names of the proposed GCs and a document containing the descriptions of the proposed GC boundaries are available for public consultation for a period of 30 days from 21 May 2015 to 19 June 2015 (both dates inclusive). The maps and a document containing the descriptions of the proposed GC boundaries are available at this website for on-screen viewing. Copies of these Maps and Summary of the Provisional Recommendations on Geographical Constituencies are also available for public inspection during ordinary business / opening hours at the following places:
- all District Offices;
- the Registration and Electoral Office;
- all Post Offices;
- management offices of all public housing estates; and
- all major and district public libraries of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
Public Consultation
Please send your written representations on the provisional recommendations to the EAC Secretariat by 19 June 2015, the latest through any of the following means:
| By post: | Electoral Affairs Commission Secretariat 10th Floor, Harbour Centre 25 Harbour Road, Wanchai Hong Kong |
| By fax: | 2511 1682 |
| By e-mail: | eacenq@eac.hk |
Late representations will not be considered.
You may also make oral representations to the EAC at the public forum to be held on 11 June 2015 (Thursday) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Lai Chi Kok Community Hall, 863 Lai Chi Kok Road, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon.
In view of the limited time available for the making of oral representations at the public forum, it is anticipated that the EAC will not be able to entertain lengthy representations at the forum. Therefore, members of the public who wish to make detailed representations are invited to send in written representations.
The EAC is committed to ensuring that all public elections are held in an open, fair and honest manner. The delineation of GCs is an important element of the arrangements for the 2016 LegCo General Election. We therefore encourage members of the public to make known their views to us through submission of written representations or attendance at the public forum. To ensure that the final recommendations of the EAC can fully take into account public opinions, it is important for every one of you to actively participate in the public consultation to express your support or otherwise for the provisional recommendations.
Views received will be published in their entirety for public information. If you wish to keep your name or your views confidential, you should indicate so clearly in your submissions. All responses will be treated as public information unless otherwise specified.
For enquiries, please contact the EAC Secretariat at 2827 1269.
Electoral Affairs Commission
21 May 2015