Election Committee

Politics and government of Hong Kong
Basic Law Chief Executive: Donald Tsang Government   Chief Secretary: Stephen Lam   Financial Secretary: John Tsang   Secretary for Justice: Wong Yan-lung   Executive Council     Convenor: Ronald Arculli   Bureaus, depts, etc.   Political Appointments   Accountability System Legislative Council   President: Jasper Tsang   Geographical constituency   Functional constituency   Elections   Political parties    Pan-democracy camp    Pro-Beijing camp Judiciary   Court of Final Appeal     Chief Justice: Geoffrey Ma   High Court Districts   District Councils Human rights Foreign relations Universal suffrage
Other Hong Kong topics
Culture - Economy Education - Geography - History Hong Kong Portal

The Election Committee is a 1,200-member electoral college in the politics of Hong Kong. It was established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong. This article defines the method of electing the Chief Executive. It is renewed every five years when the sitting Chief Executive's term has expired. The body is then used to select the new Chief Executive. It was given 400 extra members for the 2012 election, up from 800 previously, in a meagre response to the public's request for universal suffrage in electing the city's chief executive. In the first election, there were only 400 members.

Process

Choosing the Members of the Election Committee

Each of the twenty-eight functional constituencies receives a set number of electoral votes allocated to them. The block vote is applied to choose the members, as was common in the United States before the modern practice of voting only for a set slate or ticket of electors was established.

The allocation of seats is as follows.

The 800 members contain 664 nominated from the sectors of the economy, 40 from the religious organisations, and 96 ex officio members taken from the government.

In late 2009, the Government published details of the Election Committee, and its electoral base:

		No. of Registered Voters
Name of Subsectors		Bodies	Individuals	Total	EC votes
1	Catering	577	7,407	7,984	11
2	Commercial (First)	993		993	12
3	Commercial (Second)	733	1,043	1,776	12
4	Employers' Federation of Hong Kong	105		105	11
5	Finance	129		129	12
6	Financial Services	578		578	12
7	Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association	306	8	314	11
8	Hotel	101		101	11
9	Import and Export	861	608	1,469	12
10	Industrial (First)	706	0	706	12
11	Industrial (Second)	798		798	12
12	Insurance	139		139	12
13	Real Estate and Construction	440	276	716	12
14	Textiles and Garment	3,578	130	3,708	12
15	Tourism	1,127		1,127	12
16	Transport	178		178	12
17	Wholesale and Retail	1,819	4,154	5,973	12
	Sub-total	13,168	13,626	26,794	200
1	Accountancy		22,086	22,086	20
2	Architectural, Surveying and Planning		6,115	6,115	20
3	Chinese Medicine		4,056	4,056	20
4	Education		81,025	81,025	20
5	Engineering		8,261	8,261	20
6	Health Services		36,468	36,468	20
7	Higher Education		7,887	7,887	20
8	Information Technology	360	5,381	5,741	20
9	Legal		6,020	6,020	20
10	Medical		10,491	10,491	20
	Sub-total	360	187,790	188,150	200
1	Agriculture and Fisheries	160		160	40
2	Labour	597		597	40
	Religious				40
3	Social Welfare	249	12,291	12,540	40
4	Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication	2,052	155	2,207	40
	Sub-total	3,058	12,446	15,504	200
1	Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference		117	117	41
2	Heung Yee Kuk		151	151	21
3	Hong Kong and Kowloon District Councils		204	204	21
4	New Territories District Councils		220	220	21
	NPC				36
	LegCo				60
			692	692	200
	source: Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau

Since the electors must serve for no more than five years, a new election is due to occur, and the Chief Executive resignation would cause an interesting matter of timing, as to whether the old or new college of electors selects the new Chief Executive.

The EC elections have been quite irregular. They were held in 1998 and 2000, but none (except for the 2002 by-election) have been held since. Former Financial Secretary and Chief Secretary Donald Tsang became the new Chief Executive election on 16 June 2005 following Tung Chee-Hwa's resignation on 12 March, and since electoral law states that an election must be held within 120 days of the vacancy, an election would have to be held on the tenth of July at the latest.

2010 vote

After a nine-hour debate on the Consultation Document on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the LegCo in 2012, the resolution which increases the size of the Election Committee in 2012 from 800 to 1,200 members, won endorsement at 2.20 pm on 24 June by the legislature by 46 votes to 13. Eight Pan-democrats supported the proposals.

Choosing the Chief Executive

Each candidate must be validly and legally nominated to participate in the election. One of the requirements for eligibility is the nominations of at least 150 members of the Election Committee. Since each elector can only nominate one candidate, 1051 signatures will guarantee election unopposed. The college of electors casts the official ballots for the office, with an absolute majority of the votes required to be elected. If no candidate receives an absolute majority, 601 votes as it currently stands, a runoff is held on a later date. It is rather unclear what would happen in the case of a tie, since the constitution does not state any tie-breaker formats. Inauguration Day is set at Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day, 1 July, with the elections being held on a date determined by the sitting Chief Executive anytime in the six months prior to this date.

The choice of each of the 1,200 members must be publicly declared their preferred choice within the two-week nomination period. According to Ohmynews: "Its very design causes the discourse of democracy to get bandied about as though it were a legitimate feature of the process. Thus, the media reports on an 'election campaign' when only 800 individuals are allowed to vote, or refers to Tsang, Beijing's choice, as a "candidate" when the possibility of his failing is a non-starter. The euphemism, 'small-circle election' is also repeatedly employed to refer to what in reality is a thoroughly undemocratic process."

Elections for the Chief Executive

• Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 1996
• Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2002
• Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2005
• Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2007
• Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2012

External links

• www.elections.gov.hk/
• www.it20.org
• www.itvoice.hk
• Site for the 2002 Chief Executive election, where Tung Chee-Hwa was elected unopposed
• Dedicated Site of the HKSAR government for the Election Committee