Tsang Yok-sing says fewer officials should sit on the policy-making body
An executive councillor has suggested cutting the number of seats for top officials to make way for more unofficial members who reflect the views of different sectors of the community.
Tsang Yok-sing, former chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, said unofficial members were in a better position to discuss policy proposals at Exco meetings in a detached and impartial manner than principal officials with a specific portfolio.
'The fact that the Executive Council is dominated by official members unavoidably affects the exchange of views [within it],' he said.
Mr Tsang said unofficial Exco members were in the majority during the final years of British rule and the first five-year tenure of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.
Only three ex-officio members - the chief secretary, financial secretary and attorney-general (renamed as secretary for justice after the handover) - sat on the Executive Council in the final years of the colonial administration.
From 1966, the unofficial members were the majority in the council, with the number varying between eight and eleven.