hina), 1 October (1949); note - 1 July 1997 is
celebrated as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment
Day

Constitution: Basic Law approved in March 1990 by China's National
People's Congress is Hong Kong's "mini-constitution"

Legal system: based on English common law

Suffrage: direct election 18 years of age; universal for permanent
residents living in the territory of Hong Kong for the past seven
years; indirect election limited to about 100,000 members of
functional constituencies and an 800-member election committee drawn
from broad regional groupings, municipal organizations, and central
government bodies

Executive branch: chief of state: President of China JIANG Zemin
(since 27 March 1993)

head of government: Chief Executive TUNG Chee-hwa (since 1 July
1997)

cabinet: Executive Council consists of three ex-officio members and
10 appointed members; ex-officio members are: Chief Secretary Anson
CHAN (since 29 November 1993), Financial Secretary Donald TSANG
(since 7 March 1995), and Secretary of Justice Elsie LEUNG (since 1
July 1997)

elections: NA

Legislative branch: unicameral Legislative Council or LEGCO (60
seats; 30 indirectly elected by functional constituencies, 24
elected by popular vote, and 6 elected by an 800-member election
committee; members serve four-year terms)

elections: last held 10 September 2000 (next to be held NA 2004)

election results: percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party -
Democratic Party 12, Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong
Kong 10, Liberal Party 7, Frontier Party 5, Hong Kong Progressive
Alliance 4, New Century Forum 2, Hong Kong Association for Democracy
and People's Livelihood 1, independents 19

Judicial branch: The Court of Final Appeal in the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region

Political parties and leaders: Association for Democracy and
People's Livelihood [Frederick FUNG Kin-kee, chairman]; Citizens
Party [leader NA]; Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong
Kong [Jasper TSANG Yok-sing, chairman]; Democratic Party [Martin LEE
Chu-ming, chairman]; Frontier Party [Emily LAU Wai-hing,
chairwoman]; Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's
Livelihood [leader NA]; Hong Kong Progressive Alliance [Ambrose LAU
Hon-chuen]; Liberal Party [James TIEN Pei-chun, chairman]; New
Century Forum [NQ Ching-fai, chairman]

note: political blocs include: pro-democracy - Association for
Democracy and People's Liveli