People's Referendum Scheme 1993Back

Backgroun Information

	During its 80th Anniversary, the University of Hong Kong organized a large-scale project called "People's Referendum Scheme" all over the territory on 14 March 1993, on the issue "Should voting at elections be compulsory?". Meanwhile, to encourage more discussions, two open forums were held in the university campus shortly before the mock referendum, and 18 secondary schools were also involved in a series of Secondary School Mock Referendums held in their own campuses. This webpage records the details of such activities and gives an analysis of the lessons learnt. Director of POP hopes the content and related documents in this page serve as reference for people to understand the details of the activity at that time.

Details

	In order to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of the University of Hong Kong, the Social Sciences Research Centre (SSRC) of the University of Hong Kong organized the "People's Referendum Scheme" activity, which not only became the flagship event of the 80th Anniversary celebration, but also the first of its kind in Hong Kong history. The term "Referendum" refers to the direct voting on certain policy or issue by the general public. It is also common in many parts of the world. Apart from voting on constitutional or sovereignty issues, it is also used for legal issues such as abortion and setting measurement standards. Led by Dr. Robert Chung of SSRC of HKU, the preparation of this event began in March 1992. In the end, on 14 March 1993, 80 polling stations were set up in various parts of Hong Kong, opening from 9am to 9pm. All citizens aged 18 or above and holding valid HKID card were welcomed to vote on one single issue - "Should voting at elections be compulsory?". The voting results were announced in the following day. To cope with the event, the organizer also conducted two public forums on March 9 and 12, to discuss the feasibility of referendum in HK as well as the pros and cons of compulsory voting. Meanwhile, 18 secondary schools were also involved in a series of Secondary School Mock Referendums on March 9, in order to gauge the opinion from students.

Voting Results

	People's Referendum Scheme (14/3/1993) Among the 24,855 voters in total, 35% voted for the question, 64% voted against, and less than 1% were blank votes and abstention.
	Results in details (English pdf format only)
	Secondary Schools Mock Referendums (9/3/1993) Among the 11,099 voters in total, 26% voted for the question, 70% voted against, while 4% and 1% were blank votes and abstention, respectively.
	Results in details (Chinese pdf format only)

Concluding Remarks

	(To be provided soon)…

References

	References on referendum in the USA (English pdf format only)
	References on referendum in Australia (Chinese pdf format only)
	References on referendum in Australia (English pdf format only)
	"Referendums Around the World and Lessons for Hong Kong" report (Chinese only)
	Online references

Document Archive

	Proposal
	Other documents (coming soon)