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In this year, after the government proposed the “Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2012”, there are many issues raised, such as “Five Constituencies Referendum” (五區公投) and the debate between Donald Tsang and Audrey Eu. Mass media have widely reported on the political reform throughout the year. However, do you know their name and definition in English?
Today we will have some vocabularies and their explanation for the constitutional development of Hong Kong. No matter you have chose "Learning English through Debating" or "Learning English through Social Issues, you may found the following are useful:
Universal Suffrage (全民普選) - All eligible voters having the same number of votes.
LegCo - Abbreviated form for “Legislative Council (立法會)”.
CE - Abbreviated form for “Chief Executive (行政長官 / 特首)”.
Pro-Beijing Camp (親北京派) - The group of people who mostly agree with the policy and ideology of the Beijing Government, in terms of the 6.4 (六四事件), and the political reform issue.
Pan-Democratic Camp (泛民主派) - The group of people who struggle for universal suffrage in both LegCo and Chief Executive elections. They also fight for the abolishment of the functional constituencies, because it gives a minority too much power and influence.
Referendum (公投) - A direct vote in which all eligible electorates were asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy.
Functional Constituency (功能組別) - A professional or special interest group which involved in the electoral process. Eligible voters in a functional constituency may include natural persons as well as other designated legal entities such as organizations and corporations.
Also in here we have some political entities in Hong Kong which have positions in the LegCo. Remember, besides social occasions, the word “party” can also used to describe political organizations:
泛民主派 - Pan-Democratic Camp
民主黨 - Democratic Party
公民黨 - Civic Party
社會民主連線(社民連) - League of Social Democrats
香港職工會聯盟(職工盟) - Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
香港民主民生協進會(民協) - Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood
Democracy
街坊工友服務處(街工) - Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre
公民起動 - Civic Act-up
親北京派 - Pro-Beijing Camp
民主建港協進聯盟(民建聯) - The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
自由黨 - Liberal Party
經濟動力 - Economic Synergy
香港工會聯合會 - Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions
專業會議 - Professional Forum
港九勞工社團聯會(勞聯) - Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions
匯賢智庫 - Savantas Policy Institute
西九新動力 - Kowloon West New Dynamic
