Public consultation on the electoral arrangements for the selection of the chief executive in 2007 and the legislature in 2008 will be extended to mid-October following a last-minute appeal from a few legislators-elect.

Announcing the extension Tuesday, Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang -- who also heads the Constitutional Development Task Force -- said several legislators-elect recently proposed the consultation be extended to the end of October.

Tsang said acceding to the proposal would disrupt the work of the task force that should publish its fourth report in the autumn.

The task force issued its third report on May 11 for public consultation until August 31. On August 11, the authorities decided to extend the consultation to September 30 so that political parties and figures campaigning for the Legislative Council (LegCo) could have enough time to comment on the report.

Tuesday's extension to October 15 was made for the same reason.

In the third report, the task force sets out areas that may be considered for amendment in respect of the selection of the chief executive in 2007 and the formation of LegCo in 2008.

They include, for example, changes to the formation of the Election Committee for selecting the chief executive and to the number of seats and composition of LegCo.

Tsang said they had carefully considered the call of legislators-elect for the consultation to be extended by a full month.

"We have very carefully considered this recommendation and also examined how such an extension may affect the work programme of the task force. Particularly how it might impact on our proposal to change the election methods for 2007 and 2008," he said.

"We have concluded a further two-week extension is most suitable in our circumstances. This will in effect give all members-elect of the LegCo more than a month to formulate their recommendations to us and also not to disrupt the work too much of the task force," he said.

He urged all legislators, political parties and different community sectors to comment on the two election methods, pledging that the constitutional reform exercise would continue to be transparent. The fourth report will be released in the autumn as scheduled.

He said the aim was to arrive at an electoral arrangement feasible and acceptable to the community at large.

When asked if the central government was consulted over the second extension, he said the consultation exercise was the responsibility of the SAR government.

"We have, of course, during the process of formulating our views, consulted the central government as necessary. But the decision is entirely ours," he said.

The government has so far received about 200 submissions and organized two seminars, six focus group discussions and four regional forums.

In one of the latest submissions, the Law Society of Hong Kong calls for the membership of the Election Committee that returns the chief executive in 2007 to increase from 800 to 1,200 people.

The Constitutional Affairs Committee of the professional body says in its submission that the SAR is currently divided into 400 District Council constituencies in 18 districts, with each constituency returning one member to the district council.

It says the additional Election Committee members may be elected via the District Council constituencies.

(China Daily HK Edition September 29, 2004)