AN attempt by liberal legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing to seek a fully directly-elected Legislative Council was ruled out of order yesterday.
Council president John Swaine said her amendment to the second part of the bill on Governor Chris Patten's electoral reforms was irrelevant to the subject matter.
Ms Lau said she respected the ruling, but would introduce a private member's bill seeking the same objective.
''I think my amendment was relevant because after all we are talking about elections,'' she said. ''Maybe the changes I am proposing would be a bit drastic, but I am not proposing amendments on education or on the airport.
''But I think I am practical enough to recognise that there is no way the president would change his mind, although he may wish to offer some fuller explanations.'' Ms Lau said she would forward her three-page private member's draft bill tomorrow to the Legal Department's law draftsman and then seek to introduce it to the council.
She would not say what amendments she would vote for if her bill was defeated. She would discuss it with her ''Full Democracy '95'' colleagues on Monday.
The United Democrats will put their proposed amendment to Mr Swaine for a ruling in the next two days.
