THE Government is expected to go ahead with tabling a partial bill covering the less contentious issues of the 1994/95 three-tier elections but liberal legislators have vowed to amend it to include all other elements of the 1995 Legislative Council polls.
China's renewed warnings against Governor Chris Patten's presenting any bill to the legislature failed to stop the legislative process as the Executive Council yesterday gave the green light for the move.
Mr Patten is expected to announce the decision tomorrow during his question-time session with legislators.
The partial bill, covering voting age, voting method and abolishing the appointed seats of the municipal and district bodies, is a signal to Beijing of Britain's intention to continue negotiations on the remaining issues.
But the United Democrats were dissatisfied with this tactic and announced that they would seek to add amendments that increase the number of directly elected seats in the Legislative Council from 20 to 30 in 1995 and include the Patten proposals to enfranchise the functional constituency polls to cover 2.7 million eligible voters.
The vice-chairman of the United Democrats, Yeung Sum, said the party was strongly against de-coupling the political package and would amend any bill that contained only part of the Governor's reform package.
