Original sentence: According to The Basic Law, Hong Kong's "Mini-constitution," the Legislative Council has 24 directly elected members and 36 indirectly elected members--30 members elected by functional (occupational) constituencies and 6 elected by an Election Committee.According to the Basic Law, a draft could become a law only if it receives the support of more than 12 directly elected members and more than 18 indirectly elected memebers.According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984) and the Hong Kong Basic Law--Hong Kong's mini-constitution--for 50 years after reversion Hong Kong will retain its political, economic, and judicial systems and unique way of life and continue to participate in international agreements and organizations under the name, "Hong Kong, China".As a result, the Legislative Council is seen by some as a failure in overseeing the government.In both elections, pro-Beijing wins the majority of indirectly elected positions while pro-democracy and the independents occupy most directly elected seats.It is because so few voters are eligible to vote in the functional constituency and Election Committee elections.The 1998 and 2000 elections were praised by pro-Beijing as free, open, and widely contested, but were criticized by pro-democracy politicians as unfair.The drafts by pro-democracy are almost impossible to pass and the drafts by the government, if supported by the few independents, are certainly past
Edited sentence: According to The Basic Law, Hong Kong's "Mini-constitution," the Legislative Council has 24 directly elected members--30 members elected by functional (occupational) constituencies and 6 elected by an Election Committee.According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984) and the Basic Law--Hong Kong's mini-constitution--for 50 years after reversion Hong Kong will retain its political, economic, and judicial systems and unique way of life and continue to participate in international agreements and organizations under the name, "Hong Kong, China".Since the 1970s, Hong Kong has effectively been ruled by a local business elite.The 1998 and 2000 elections were seen as free, open, and widely contested, despite discontent among mainly prodemocracy politicians that the functional constituency and Election Committee elections are essentially undemocratic because so few voters are eligible to vote