Constitution: unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice; new Basic Law approved in March 1990 in preparation for 1997
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 professionals of electoral college and functional constituencies
Executive branch:
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (of the United Kingdom since 6
February 1952) is a hereditary monarch
head of government: Governor and President of the Executive Council
Christopher Francis PATTEN (since 9 July 1992) was appointed by the
Queen; Chief Secretary Anson CHAN Fang On-Sang (since 29 November
1993)
cabinet: Executive Council was appointed by the Governor
Legislative branch: unicameral
Legislative Council: indirect and direct elections last held 17
September 1995 (next to be held NA 1999); results - percent of vote
by party NA; seats - (60 total, 30 indirectly elected by functional
constituencies, 20 directly elected, 10 elected by election
committee) Democratic Party 21, Liberal Party 10, Democratic
Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong 6, other parties and
independents 23
Judicial branch: Supreme Court
Political parties and leaders: Democratic Party, Martin LEE, chairman; Liberal Party, Allen LEE, chairman; Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, TSANG Yuk-shing, chairman; Hong Kong Democratic Foundation, Dr. Patrick SHIU Kin-ying, chairman
Other political or pressure groups: Association for Democracy and
People's Livelihood (ADPL), Frederick FUNG Kin Kee, chairman;
Liberal Democratic Federation, HU Fa-kuang, chairman; Federation of
Trade Unions (pro-China), LEE Chark-tim, president; Hong Kong and
Kowloon Trade Union Council (pro-Taiwan); Confederation of Trade
Unions (pro-democracy), LEE Cheuk-yan, chairman; Hong Kong General
Chamber of Commerce; Chinese General Chamber of Commerce
(pro-China); Federation of Hong Kong Industries; Chinese
Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong; Hong Kong Professional
Teachers' Union, CHEUNG Man-kwong, president; Hong Kong Alliance in
Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, Szeto WAH,
chairman
International organization participation: APEC, AsDB, CCC, ESCAP
(associate), ICFTU, IMO (associate), Interpol (subbureau), IOC, ISO
(correspondent), WCL, WMO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in US: none (dependent territory of the
UK)