The Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions (SARs) will have electoral councils consisting of 45 percent and 17 percent more people, respectively, to elect deputies to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), according to the draft methods submitted to China's top legislature for examination Thursday.
The Hong Kong SAR will have 36 deputies to the 12th NPC, while Macao SAR will have 12. Both figures are the same as those for the current 11th NPC, which will end its term in March 2013, according to the draft.
An electoral council comprising about 1,800 people will be formed in Hong Kong to represent local residents from various social sectors for the 12th NPC, compared with 1,234 members for the council that elected the 11th NPC deputies.
Similarly, a 380-person electoral council will be formed in Macao for selecting the region's 12th NPC deputies, up 17 percent from five years ago.
The size of the presidiums, the leading bodies for the election councils, were also increased to 19 members for Hong Kong and 11 for Macao to "make them more representative," up from 15 for Hong Kong and 9 for Macao in the last election.
The elections of the 12th NPC deputies from Hong Kong and Macao shall be conducted by the NPC Standing Committee, the draft said.
Methods of electing deputies to the 12th NPC from the Hong Kong and Macao SARs have not changed in general, according to the draft method delivered by Li Jianguo, vice chairman and secretary general of the NPC Standing Committee.
The election methods were formulated under the guideline of "maintaining the continuity and stability of the electoral methods, and, in general, not changing the number of deputies or the way elections are held," Li said.
The NPC Standing Committee shall publish the list of names of the members of the electoral council, convene the first meeting of the electoral council, dispatch staff members to Hong Kong and Macao to organize the elections, confirm the qualifications of the deputies and publish the list of their names.
Hong Kong and Macao residents who want to run for the national legislator posts should be nominated by at least 10 members of the local electoral councils, respectively, according to the draft methods.
The draft noted that the elections shall be competitive and will be carried out by secret ballot, and candidates for deputies will be elected only if they have obtained more than half of the votes cast by members of the electoral council.