Any attempt to significantly alter arrangements for next year's legislative council elections will be overturned, the Government said yesterday. With the election bill due to be debated by provisional legislators tomorrow, the administration warned it would amend major changes that members voted through. The Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Michael Suen Ming-yeung, insisted the Legislative Council Ordinance was acceptable to the public. The Government, he said, would not withdraw the bill, however severely it was altered. Instead, it would introduce its own amendments to reverse the changes. 'We are at the moment lobbying very hard for the maintenance of the status quo,' he said. 'The Government is prepared to introduce another amendment bill immediately if legislators' amendments are approved. 'We hope the majority of members will realise that what we're proposing makes sense.' Mr Suen did not say whether technical amendments would be accepted. His comments came as Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, the Provisional Legislative Council President, approved 15 amendments moved by members. She blocked three controversial changes championed by independent Andrew Wong Wang-fat and Frederick Fung Kin-kee of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL). These included a bid to reinstate the 'single-seat, single-vote' system for the geographical constituencies. She refused to say whether the Government's stance weakened the authority of the legislature. 'The administration has the right to withdraw bills at any time. It is common for the Government to amend ordinances when it finds difficulty in their implementation,' she said. But Tsang Yok-sing, chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, warned that the Government would pay a political price if it tried to re-amend the ordinance. Mr Fung, the ADPL chairman, said Mr Suen's comments meant the Government saw the provisional legislature as a rubber stamp. Mr Suen refused to say how many votes government lobbying had secured. 'I believe all the legislators are rational, they should know how to vote,' he said. Tung Chee-hwa said legislators should support the bill. 'I know members are trying to make amendments but, from the government point of view, the bill has been thoroughly checked. We hope it is passed,' he said. Under some amendments to be tabled tomorrow, the electorates of certain constituencies, such as social welfare and transport, would be widened significantly. An attempt has also been made to create a separate functional constituency for higher education. The chance of passage for those amendments was unclear last night. But no amendments aiming to change the 12-seat quota for foreign passport holders are expected to be passed.