Chapter 2: Electoral System for the Chief Executive

Under the Basic Law, the Chief Executive is selected locally and appointed by the Central People's Government. Annex I to the Basic Law lays down the basic framework as to how the Chief Executive shall be selected through local election. It, inter alia, provides that the Chief Executive shall be elected by a broadly representative Election Committee through secret ballot on a one-person-one-vote basis.

In July 2001, the Legislative Council passed the Chief Executive Election Bill into law. This piece of legislation provides the domestic legal basis for holding the Chief Executive election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in accordance with the basic framework of the Basic Law. Among other things, it stipulates that the Chief Executive election shall be held on the first Sunday 95 days before the office of the incumbent Chief Executive becomes vacant. This gives March 24, 2002 as the polling date for the second term Chief Executive election.

In accordance with the Basic Law, the Election Committee responsible for electing the second term Chief Executive in 2002 is one and the same as the Election Committee that returned six Members to the second term Legislative Council in 2000. (For the composition of the Election Committee, see the relevant section under Electoral System for the Legislative Council).

Eighteen District Councils are established in the HKSAR to advise the Government on district affairs and to promote recreational and cultural activities, and environmental improvements within the districts. A District Council is composed of elected members, appointed members, and, in the case of District Councils in rural areas, the chairmen of Rural Committees as ex officio members. The HKSAR is divided into 390 constituencies, in each of which a member is elected. The simple majority method is adopted in these elections.

The Electoral Affairs Commission, an independent statutory body, is responsible for ensuring that elections in the HKSAR are conducted openly, honestly and fairly. It comprises three politically neutral persons appointed by the Chief Executive and is headed by a High Court judge. It is responsible for making recommendations to the Chief Executive on the delineation of geographical constituencies and District Council constituencies, making regulations on practical arrangements for the Legislative Council election, the District Council election and the Chief Executive election, and handling complaints relating to these elections. Its executive arm is the Registration and Electoral Office, a government department headed by the Chief Electoral Officer. The department works under the commission's direction and carries out its decisions.