National holiday: National Day (Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China), 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 Chief Executive TUNG Chee-hwa (since 1 July 1997) cabinet: members; ex-officio members are: Chief Secretary Donald TSANG Yam-kuen (since 1 May 2001), Financial Secretary Antony LEUNG (since 1 May 2001), 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 [Alex
CHAN Kai-chung]; 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 Livelihood, Citizens Party, Democratic Party, Frontier Party;
pro-Beijing - Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong Progressive Alliance, Liberal Party, New Century Forum
Political pressure groups and leaders: Chinese General Chamber of
Commerce (pro-China); Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong;
Confederation of Trade Unions (pro-democracy) [LAU Chin-shek, president;
LEE Cheuk-yan, general secretary]; Federation of Hong Kong Industries;
Federation of Trade Unions (pro-China) [LEE Chark-tim, president];
Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement
in China [Szeto WAH, chairman]; Hong Kong and Kowloon Trade Union
Council (pro-Taiwan); Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce; Hong Kong
Professional Teachers' Union [CHEUNG Man-kwong, president]; Liberal
Democratic Federation [HU Fa-kuang, chairman]
International organization participation: APEC, AsDB, BIS, CCC, ESCAP (associate), ICC, ICFTU, IHO, IMO (associate), Interpol (subbureau), IOC, ISO (correspondent), WCL, WMO, WToO (associate), WTrO