金融服務界向不公義的功能界别選舉制度說不

功能界别之選舉制度始於1984年之代議政制綠皮書，以代議政制作為香港政制改革之開端，而成立時之目的是以此逐步把民主代議政制引入香港，是一個過渡性之安排。此後功能界别之數目及組成方法有所調整。回歸後至2012年，香港立法會七十個議席當中功能界別議席佔了三十五席。現時在立法會及特首選舉委員會的功能界別當中，除了一些專業界别如會計界丶法律界丶醫學界等是運用個人票選出界別代表之外，其餘大部份界別都是以公司票、團體票作為界別選民，不設個人票。一般界别中的從業員是没有投票權的。投票權掌握在公司機構主事人手裏。因此，此制度一直被詬病為小圈子選舉。不論候選人或選民都是由一班「特權階層」、大老闆所控制。政府只要控制這少數人的投票意向就可令政策通過，不用理會社會上大多數市民的聲音。另外功能界别沒有细 緻下分為不同界别領域，很多界別又没有個人票，根本不能反映界别中從業員之意見，缺乏廣泛代表性。而在一些選民人數較少的界别，界別中小圈子在選舉外早已對誰當選有共識，做成不少界别都出現自動當選的情况，在2012年立法會選舉中就有十六個界别之候選人自動當選。

金融服務界現時有573個機構選民。選民必須是認可交易所的交易所參與者或有權在金銀貿易塲的大會上表决的該會會員。現任界別代表議員是張華峯，在2012 年立法會選舉中獲208票當選(得票率是44.8%)。

金融界有124個機構選民。選民必須是跟據〈銀行業條例〉所指的銀行、有限制牌照銀行或接受存款公司。現任界別代表議員是吳亮星，在2012年立法會選舉中由於在沒有競爭對手下而自動當選。

現時香港有接近二十萬與金融領域相關的從業員，竟然由不到七百個公司團體票去“代表”! 這代表性不足0.35%! 現在是時候向這不合理不公義的選舉制度說不！

The concept of functional constituencies in the Hong Kong electoral system was first developed in "Green Paper: The Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong" in 1984. It was a transitional arrangement aiming to gradually introduce representative democracy into Hong Kong. Since then, there were adjustments in the number and composition of functional constituencies.

From the 1997 handover till 2012, 35 out of the 70 Legislative Council seats were elected by functional constituencies. In the current Legislative Council and Chief Executive election committee functional constituencies, the electoral base consists mostly of institutional votes with the exception of just a few professional sectors such as Accountancy, Legal and Medical, which have individual votes. Individual employees from most constituencies do not have the rights to vote as such rights lie only in the hands of institution principals.

As such the functional constituency system has been criticized as small circle election where both candidates and voters are dominated by a group of "privileged class" and tycoons. The government can pass policies simply by manipulating the votes of this small group of people without any regard for public opinion. Due to the lack of an elaborate classification scheme and individual votes, the functional constituency system fails to reflect the opinions of individual employees and is therefore lacking broad representativeness. In some smaller constituencies, there are even prior agreements among the small circles on who are going to be elected, resulting in uncontested elections. In the 2012 Legislative Council election, 16 functional constituency seats were uncontested.

Currently there are 573 institutional voters in the Financial Services constituency. These are members of the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society entitled to vote at general meetings, and participants of other exchange societies. The incumbent representative for Financial Services is Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, who was elected a member of Legislative Council in 2012 with 208 votes (44.8% of total votes).

There are 124 institutional voters in the Finance constituency. These are banks, restricted licensed banks, and deposit-taking companies under the Banking Ordinance. The incumbent representative is Ng Leung-sing, who was elected uncontested in the 2012 Legislative Council election.

How can less than 700 institutional voters "represent" all 200,000 people working in the finance industry? This is less than 0.35%! Now is the time to say no to such an unreasonable and unjust electoral system!