Another major political party has backed proportional representation for the election of the first legislature of the Special Administrative Region. The proposal was submitted to the Preparatory Committee's Secretariat by the Liberal Party. The party said the territory should be divided into five constituencies, one on Hong Kong Island and four in Kowloon and the New Territories. Each constituency would have four seats. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong has already come out in support of a proportional representation system for the 20 directly elected members of the first legislature. The Liberal Party said apart from the 21 original functional constituency seats, nine new seats should be introduced: textile and garments, sports, performing arts and cultural, transport, import and export, insurance, wholesale and retail, public utilities and telecommunications, surveyors, and catering. The 12 seats reserved for the foreign passport holders would be limited only to the functional constituency poll. The party said the election committee, to pick 10 legislators in the new Legco, should be composed of 400 representatives from the business, professional, labour and political sectors. Pro-China parties have said the committee should be formed by the 400 members of the Selection Committee. The Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood said the single-seat, single-vote system should remain. It said new functional constituency seats should be allocated to women's rights, tertiary education, Chinese medical practitioners, information technology, culture and entertainment, elderly and disabled's rights and fishery and agriculture.
