The community will have more time to comment on the government's third report on the constitutional development of Hong Kong.

Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang Wednesday made the announcement that the deadline for submitting views on the third report of the Constitutional Development Task Force would be extended from August 31 to September 30.

The report listed the areas open to amendments in the election of the chief executive in 2007 and the Legislative Council (LegCo) in 2008.

Tsang made the announcement at the end of the latest forum on constitutional reform.

"Recently, we have received suggestion that the consultation period should be extended to give people a vital opportunity to express their views. So for that reason, we have extended the consultation arrangement," Tsang said.

"We hope very much that during the extended period, organizations in different sectors, as well as the political groups and personalities who are engaged busily at the moment in the elections, will be able to form their views and convey their views formally to the task force," he said.

"We really hope to be able to receive views from a wider cross section of the community and take them fully into account in working out our various options of change," he said.

He said the consultation would be conducive to building consensus in the new Legislative Council and the community and reflected the common wish of the public for all parties concerned to participate in the process.

"I sincerely urge them to take this opportunity and make submission to the task force," he said.

The original three-month period was due to end on August 31. As of Wednesday, he said the task force had received more than 140 submissions and organized 11 forums to which over 800 people from different walks of live and age groups had participated.

Speaking of Wednesday's forum, Tsang said participants had given useful suggestion as to how the election methods in 2007 and 2008 could be amended.

According to panel discussion facilitators at the forum, there was a common wish among the participants -- all aged between 18 and early 30s -- to increase the representation of the Election Committee that would elect the chief executive in 2007.

Rosanna Wong, the executive director of Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, said that within her group, it was also heard that the number of Election Committee members required for nominating chief executive candidates should be lowered from the present minimum of 100 to 50 to encourage competition in the process.

Summing up the views, Philemon Choi, honorary general secretary of Breakthrough Ltd, said some also suggested dividing Hong Kong into 40 districts and each district electing 20 representatives to the Election Committee.

In respect of functional constituencies, Choi said many participants thought company votes in the functional constituencies should be replaced by individual votes within the concerned constituencies.

In April, the National People's Congress Standing Committee ruled out universal suffrage for the elections of the chief executive in 2007 and LegCo in 2008, and decided the ratio between LegCo members returned by functional and geographical constituencies should remain half to half.

(China Daily HK Edition August 12, 2004)