Functional constituency (Hong Kong)
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In the political systems of Hong Kong and Macau, a functional constituency is a professional or special interest group involved in the electoral process. Eligible voters in a functional constituency may include natural persons as well as other designated legal entities such as organisations and corporations.
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, only 30 of the 60 Legislative Council seats are directly elected by the people (through geographical constituencies), with the other 30 elected by 28 functional constituencies. Prior to the 2004 Hong Kong LegCo election, only 24 seats were directly elected, with the other six seats chosen by an 800-member election committee.
The Electoral base is non-uniform, and there may be instutitional votes, individual votes or a mixture of both. Approximately one third of members are theoretically returned each by corporate block vote only, a mixture of corporate and individual votes, and individuals only.[1] In those sectors with mixed voting, four have a greater number of block votes than individual electors. Fourteen seats were uncontested in 2008; of the 16 contested seats, the number of electors, corporate and individuals combined, ranged from between 112 and 52,894 voters.[2] Four of the FC legislators – mostly those returned in fiercely contested elections – are aligned with the parties which support universal suffrage; two are independent and the rest (24) are pro-government.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) refers to the participation of the business block vote in the affairs of Hong Kong as "balanced participation". On 26 April 2004, the NPCSC published[3] its decision that:
"Any change...shall conform to principles such as being compatible with the social, economic, political development of Hong Kong, being conducive to the balanced participation of all sectors and groups"
In 2009, the Government published details of the electoral base of the functional constituencies as follows:
Criticisms
Pro-democracy supporters criticise the functional constituency system for giving a minority too much power and influence. The right of corporations and legal entities to vote is also controversial, as it gives some individuals multiple votes. For example, in 1998, Sino Group chairman Robert Ng and companies he controlled held roughly 3-4% of the votes in the real estate constituency, according to an analysis by the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor; they described this as being equivalent in voting power to 15,940 people in a geographical constituency.[4][5]
In some functional constituencies, the entire body of eligible voters comprises legal entities that are not natural persons. This is known as corporate voting.
In 2009, there were applications for judicial review to challenge the legality of corporate voting on the grounds that it contravened the right to vote enshrined in Article 26 of the Basic Law or was discriminatory in nature.[6] Mr. Justice Andrew Cheung dismissed the applications, emphasising that his judgment was solely concerned with the constitutionality of corporate voting rather than the political wisdom of corporate voting or functional constituencies.[7]
There have been calls to abolish the functional constituencies from pan democrats. The May 2010 by-election was triggered by the resignation of 5 pan-democrats from the Legislative Council who put themselves up for re-election to the Legislative Council. The 'Five Constituencies Referendum' concept to use a by-election as a de facto referendum on universal suffrage and the abolition of functional constituencies was hatched by the League of Social Democrats.
Reform proposals
Following the consultations on the 2009 political reform package, where an additional five legislative seats for District Councils were proposed (in addition to Geographical seats) the government unveiled the revised package in mid-April 2010. It was proposed that the five additional Legco seats for the district council constituencies will be elected by proportional representation instead of block voting.[8] With the proposals looking likely to be vetoed, the Democratic Party said they would support the measures if the five new District Council functional seats, and the one existing seat, would return candidates nominated by district councillors and elected by all registered voters.[9]
List of functional members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
- Dr Raymond Ho - Engineering
- Sir David Li - Finance
- Lam Tai Fai - Industrial (Second)
- Margaret Ng - Legal
- Cheung Man Kwong - Education
- Chan Kin Por - Insurance
- Sophie Leung - Textiles and Garment
- Dr Samson Tam - Information Technology
- Philip Wong - Commercial (Second)
- Wong Yung-kan - Agriculture and Fisheries
- Paul Tse - Tourism
- Ip Kwok-him - District Councils
- Miriam Lau - Transport
- Timothy Fok - Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication
- Abraham Razack - Real Estate and Construction
- Li Fung-ying - Labour
- Vincent Fang - Wholesale and Retail
- Ip Wai-ming - Labour
- Dr Joseph Lee - Health Services
- Lau Wong Fat - Heung Yee Kuk
- Jeffrey Lam - Commercial (First)
- Andrew Leung - Industrial (First)
- Dr Leung Ka-lau - Medical
- Cheung Kwok Che - Social Welfare
- Wong Ting-kwong - Import and Export
- Chim Pui Chung - Financial Services
- Patrick Lau - Architectural, Surveying and Planning
- Dr Pan Pey Chyou - Labour
- Paul Chan - Accountancy
- Tommy Cheung - Catering
Macau
Legislative Assembly of Macau has ten functional constituency seats. They represent:
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010) |
Business
Labour
Professionals
Care, culture, education and sport
Taiwan
Functional (or professional) constituencies (職業團體) were also used in elections in Taiwan before the democratic reforms of the 1990s. See for example zh:第1屆中華民國立法委員 (第3次增額期間), an election in Taiwan for members of the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China.
See also
- Corporatism
- Vocational Panels in Ireland
- Rotten and pocket boroughs
- List of constituencies of Hong Kong
References
- ^ a b Distribution of registered electors by functional constituencies in 2021,
- ^ 2008 Legislative Council Election, Government of Hong Kong
- ^ Decision of Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Issues Relating to the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the year 2007 and for Forming the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the year 2008, Hong Kong Government Regional Gazette, 26 April 2004
- ^ "Rights Group Attacks Electoral System", South China Morning Post, 4 December 1998
- ^ "Corporate Voting is Highly Corrupt", Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, 1998, retrieved 14 July 2009
{{citation}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ http://www.association-france-hongkong.org/spip.php?article931&lang=fr#outil_sommaire_2
- ^ "Chan Yu Nam v. Secretary for Justice". Retrieved 2 March 2010.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|%28corporate%2Bvoting%29&TP=ignored (help) - ^ Lee, Diana, (15 April 2010). 'Grab this golden chance', The Standard
- ^ Leung, Ambrose and Cheung, Gary (1 June 2010). "Democrats seek deal for support of reforms", South China Morning Post
External links