The Role of the Legislative Council - Part II | How can the Legislative Council be checked and balanced while cooperating with the government from resistance to negotiation?

After the anti-amendment turmoil in 2019, the central government took action to formulate the "Hong Kong National Security Law" and revise the electoral system. The number of directly elected seats in the Legislative Council was reduced to 20. The pan-democratic faction in the new parliament has almost disappeared. There are different opinions, but the SAR Government's governance has not improved much.

Some people believe that the oversight space and power of the parliament have been greatly weakened, while others believe that the authorities are simply turning the executive-legislative relationship from "confrontation" to "negotiation".

However, if the parliamentary checks and balances are insufficient, how can it cooperate with the government to improve its governance effectiveness?

Lin Zhaohui, director of the Beijing Hong Kong and Macao Scholars Research Center and member of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association, believes that the previous system gave the parliament relatively greater restraint power. Although it was "administrative-led", the direct election system also encouraged parliamentarians to tend to "act against the government". In order to show its supervisory power, "but after the improvement of the electoral system, the proportion of directly elected seats in the Legislative Council has been greatly reduced to only 20 seats. The new 40 seats of the electoral committee members will be based on the same group of people as the chief executive election. , the executive-legislative relationship is also believed to shift from "opposition" to "auxiliary" in the past."

So, how much space will there be for the legislation to "rejuvenate"?

How much space is there to oversee the government?

?

In particular, the restructured Legislative Council has strengthened the leadership of the executive. If the power of the Legislative Council is insufficient, should the Legislative Council be given more powers to check and balance the government in the future?

For details, please read "Hong Kong 01" e-weekly issue No. 322 (June 20, 2022) "

The role of the Legislative Council・Part 1｜The government's ignorance of the parliament's difficulty in deliberating over epidemic prevention regulationsThe role of the Legislative Council・Middle｜Relationship between executive and legislature—authoritarianism and democracy are contradictory?

The Role of the Legislative Council - Part II | How can the Legislative Council be checked and balanced while cooperating with the government from resistance to negotiation?

Lin Zhaohui believes that the previous system gave the parliament too much restraining power. Although the executive led the way, the direct election system also encourages parliamentarians to "fight against" the government. In the future, the parliament will shift from "opposition" to "auxiliary".

(Photo by Liao Yanxiong)

Cai Ziqiang believes that the supervision ability of the current Legislative Council has declined, which is reflected in the current members' familiarity with issues and changes in the parliamentary supervision space.

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

Lam Chiu Fai pointed out that the current "rules of the game" of the Legislative Council and the government's ability to "hoop votes" have changed.

(provided by respondents)

Jiang Yuhuan pointed out, "The government needs to have a direction, set goals, and report on its work every year, so that members can clearly understand the progress of the government's work, instead of blurring the vision based on the accumulated work progress over the past few years. Just do it.” (Photo by Liang Pengwei)