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Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a reply by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

In accordance with Annex I to the Basic Law, the Chief Executive of the second term shall be elected by an Election Committee consisting of 800 members. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

(1) the expected time when all members of the Election Committee are returned;

(2) the measures in place to prevent the incumbent Chief Executive and other persons from influencing the voting preference of members of the Election Committee in the election of the next Chief Executive, through the offer of advantages to them before declaring their plans to run for the next Chief Executive's office; and

¡@¡@¡@(3) the specific measures, in formulating the policies governing the personal interests of members of the Election Committee, to resolve the problem of the incumbent Chief Executive playing the roles of the policy-maker as well as a candidate for the office of the next Chief Executive?

Reply:

President:

(1) The election of the second term Chief Executive will be held in 2002. The Government will draft legislation for this election and will introduce it into the Legislative Council (LegCo) for scrutiny. All arrangements for the election will be made in accordance with the relevant legislation.

(2) The LegCo has passed the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance on February 16 this year. The Ordinance will apply to the election of the Chief Executive and various other public elections. The Ordinance provides that in these elections, a person engages in corrupt conduct if the person offers an advantage to other people in order to influence their voting preferences. The Ordinance also stipulates clearly that it will be an offence irrespective of whether the corrupt conduct is engaged in before, during or after the election period, or whether it is engaged in within Hong Kong or elsewhere. The Independent Commission Against Corruption will investigate all complaints involving corrupt and illegal conduct and will institute prosecutions in accordance with law.

(3) The Government will certainly formulate all public policies in the light of public interest, giving no consideration to the interests of individual persons. If individuals participating in policy making consider that conflict of interests may arise, they are required to declare their own interests according to the existing mechanism. Also, the Government's policy formulation process is subject to monitoring by LegCo and the public. In addition, Article 64 of the Basic Law stipulates that the Government must be accountable to LegCo and shall answer questions raised by members of the Council. In view of the above, the Government is of the view that the problem of conflict of interests can be solved effectively under the existing mechanism.

End/Wednesday, March 1, 2000

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