HK to become another Singapore,
leader warns voters

NEW electoral rules announced by Hong Kong's incoming administration mark "the beginning of the Singaporisation of Hong Kong", according to Mr Martin Lee, leader of the Democratic Party.

The rules introduce proportional representation for the first Legislative Council election under Chinese rule, due to be held next May.

Analysts say proportional representation will make it much harder for the Democrats to achieve the victory they secured in the British-run elections held in 1995, which China branded illegal.

Because Beijing did not accept the British-run elections, the Legislative Council was replaced with the Provisional Legislature, which has run Hong Kong since the colony returned to China last week.

"They want certain results, then they work backwards to achieve them by changing the law," Mr Lee said.

Under the new electoral rules, 20 of the legislature's 60 seats will be elected by proportional representation in five constituencies.

Unlike the 1995 elections, in which members for the 20 seats were elected under a first-past-the-post system, the top three to five candidates who win the highest number of votes in larger districts will win seats. The remaining 40 seats will be selected almost entirely by the leaders of Hong Kong's business sector and the professions.

According to electoral analysts, the proportional representation system favours the smaller parties and independents, and will, thus, lower the Democratic Party's chances of dominating the 1998 polls.

Professor Lau Siu-kai, one of Hong Kong's leading political scientists, was instrumental in developing the proportional representation system for the territory. He admitted it would be more acceptable to Beijing than a first-past-the-post system, similar to Britain's.

"We have to consider the attractiveness of Hong Kong as a place for investment and how to maintain the good relations between the mainland and Hong Kong," he told reporters.

The new system for electing the 20 seats was the biggest change, but other features of the voting package put together under Hong Kong's last Governor, Mr Chris Patten, have also gone.

In the 1995 elections, Mr Patten widened Hong Kong's electoral base by turning the "functional constituencies" - small groups based on profession, association or business - into large, industry-based groups. Essentially, this gave two votes to anyone who was in paid work.

The new rules have scrapped Mr Patten's constituencies and replaced them with large groups such as "sports, entertainment, culture and publication", "wholesale and retail" and "import and export", whose members will vote for 30 seats in the legislature.

The remaining 10 seats will be voted for by an 800-member electoral committee.