| District Council | |||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese: | 區議會 | ||||||||||||||
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The District Councils, known as District Boards before 1999, are the local councils for the eighteen districts in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. They are consultative bodies on district administration and other affairs.
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Councils
There is a district council for each of the following eighteen districts:
- Hong Kong Island
- Kowloon (including New Kowloon)
- New Territories
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 (當然議員) (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 1 January 2000 to 31st December 2003, the second term begins on 1st January 2004 and ends on 31st December 2007
