Functional Constituencies

FUNCTIONAL CONSTITUENCIES: A Unique Feature of the Hong Kong Legislative Council provides detailed information on: the relevant law of functional constituencies, their place in the Basic Law and with respect to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, their history, a full list of functional constituencies and the size and make-up of their electorates including how certain major companies may control large numbers of votes. Another chapter reports on a pioneering study which polled individual functional constituency voters to build up the first comprehensive picture of such electors. Then the impacts of the functional constituency members on social policy-making and on economic policy are examined, and deleterious effects on economic efficiency of its entrenchment of vested interests argued. An enclosed CD provides a rich resource of additional data on the functional constituencies. In a concluding chapter, Christine Loh explores the constraints for reform of LegCo, the various reform proposals that have been made and suggests how the democratic legitimacy of the Hong Kong system could be enhanced within the current constraints.