Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong which states that "the Chief Executive shall be elected by a broadly representative Election Committee in accordance with this Law and appointed by the Central People's Government (State Council).
[2] The Election Committee has been criticised for its "small-circle" electoral basis and its composition favouring pro-Beijing and business interests.
The Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 provides that the Chief Executive "shall be selected by elections or through consultations held locally and be appointed by the Central People's Government.
After a nine-hour debate on the consultation document, the resolution which increased the size of the Election Committee won endorsement at 2:20 p.m. on 24 June by the legislature 46 votes to 13.
[4] In March 2021 the National People's Congress of China passed a new law that would change the electoral system in Hong Kong.
It is composed of corporations including banking and financial services, hotel and catering, industrial and manufacturing, insurance, professional and business services, construction, shipping, trading, distribution, and transportation companies who are members of the Employers' Federation of Hong Kong and entitled to vote at general meetings.
It consists of individuals and corporations who are members of the Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association and allowed to vote at general meetings.
The association was established in 1991 and its membership includes companies which are registered in Hong Kong, solely-funded or joint ventures with their original capital from Mainland China.
It is composed of both individual and corporate members of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries who are entitled to vote at general meetings.
[16] The Real Estate and Construction Subsector corresponds with the functional constituency Real Estate and Construction and consists of individual and corporate members of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Construction Association, and the Hong Kong E&M Contractors' Association who are entitled to vote at general meetings.
The Real Estate and Construction Subsector held contested elections in 1998, 2000, and 2006 with turnout rates of around 65%.
[17] The Transport Subsector corresponds to the Transport functional constituency and consists of bodies including the Airport Authority Hong Kong, Hong Kong Public & Maxicab Light Bus United Association, and MTR Corporation.
The Wholesale and Retail had contested elections in 1998, 2000 and 2006 with relatively low turnout rates of 34.56%, 28.66%, and 32.26% respectively.
[18] 15 seats of the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape sub-sector are ex officio seats filled by responsible persons of statutory bodies, advisory bodies and relevant association:[19] The Chinese Medicine Subsector is one of the five subsectors without a corresponding functional constituency.
It consists of individual members of ten organisations including the Hong Kong Association of Traditional Medicine, Hong Kong Chinese Herbalists Association, and Society of Practitioners of Chinese Herbal Medicine who are entitled to vote at general meetings.
It has the largest electorate of all subsectors and includes full-time academic staff who are teachers or administrators in publicly funded universities, approved secondary colleges, technical colleges and certain tertiary institutions, members of academic councils, registered teachers, principals, and managers of schools, as well as teachers in institutions such as industrial training centres, technical institutes, and the Caritas Lok Mo Integrated Vocational Training Centre of Caritas.
The former Higher Education subsector consisted of 6,856 registered individual electorates in 2006 and is increasingly competitive with 27 candidates in 1998 and 49 in 2006 running for 20 seats.
There were changes in the membership such as the omission of the members of the Hong Kong Chiropractors' Association entitled to vote at general meetings since 2001.
[20] 15 seats of the Medical and Health Services sub-sector are ex officio seats filled by responsible persons of statutory bodies, advisory bodies and relevant association:[19] The Legal Subsector is corresponding to the Legal functional constituency and consists of members of the Law Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Bar Association who are entitled to vote at general meetings as well as legal officers.
[21] Under the 2021 Hong Kong electoral changes, 9 seats of the Legal sub-sector are ex officio seats filled by Hong Kong members of the Committee for the Basic Law of the HKSAR under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
6 seats of the subsector are nominated from among Hong Kong members of the Council of the China Law Society.
[19] The former Information Technology Subsector corresponds with the Information Technology functional constituency and is composed of individuals who are members of relevant organisations including the Hong Kong Computer Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the corporate members of bodies such as the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry, and Society of Hong Kong External Telecommunications Services Providers who are eligible to vote at genera meetings, as well as corporations with certain licences granted by the Telecommunication Authority.
[24] The subsectors of Representatives of members of Area Committees, District Fight Crime Committees, and District Fire Safety Committees of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon and the New Territories were respectively established under the 2021 Hong Kong electoral changes, to be returned from: Under the 2021 Hong Kong electoral changes, the Representatives of associations of Hong Kong residents in the Mainland subsector was created with one member nominated by each of the prescribed associations: The National People's Congress Subsector does not correspond to any Legislative Council's functional constituency but includes the 36 Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China.
The Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the HKSAR shall, on the basis of the review by the department for safeguarding national security of the Police Force of the HKSAR, make findings as to whether a candidate for Election Committee member or for the office of Chief Executive meets the legal requirements and conditions of upholding the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and swearing allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, and issue an opinion to the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee of the HKSAR in respect of a candidate who fails to meet such legal requirements and conditions.
The college of electors casts the official ballots for the office, with an absolute majority of the votes required to be elected.
If no candidate receives an absolute majority (601 votes as it currently stands) a runoff is held on a later date.
Inauguration Day is set at Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day, 1 July, with the elections being held on a date determined by the sitting Chief Executive any time in the six months prior to this date.
Thus, in 2005 the media reported on an 'election campaign' when only 800 individuals are allowed to vote, or refers to Tsang, Beijing's choice, as a 'candidate' when the possibility of his failing is a non-starter.
It has been said that the competitive nature of this election, with debates held between the candidates, changed Hong Kong's political culture.
It was also mocked as "small-circle election" as it had a narrow electorate basis which facilitates the business elites to secure their seats on the committee through personal networks and the support of the Liaison Office.