District Council of Hong Kong - Definition and Overview

The District Councils (formerly District Boards) are district organizations in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). It is mainly a consultative body of the HKSAR Government on district administration and other affairs. There are 18 district councils in Hong Kong, corresponding to the 18 districts of Hong Kong.

Functions

The councils advise the Government on the following:

• matters affecting the well-being of people in the District;
• the provision and use of public facilities and services within the District;
• the adequacy and priorities of Government programmes for the District;
• the use of public funds allocated to the District for local public works and community activities; and

District Councils also undertake the following within the respective districts with its available funds allocated by the Government:

• environmental improvements;
• the promotion of recreational and cultural activities; and
• community activities

Constituencies

There are a total of 529 District Council members, of which -

• 400 are returned by direct election with one returned in each of the 400 constituencies in the 18 districts by a "First past the post" system,
• 27 are ex-officio members (Rural Committee Chairmen in the New Territories), and
• 102 are appointed members by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

Terms of office

Each term of the District Council lasts for 4 years. The first term begins from Jan 1 2000, and the second term begins on Jan 1 2004.

See also

• Politics of Hong Kong
• Districts of Hong Kong

External links

• Home page of District Councils (http://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk)