Sino-British Joint Declaration
The electoral method of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (CE) and Legislative Council (LegCo) has been a long debated issue in Hong Kong since the Sino-British Joint Declaration which decided the transfer of the Hong Kong sovereignty to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. In the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the Annex I states that the Chief Executive in the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) shall be selected by election or through consultations and the Legislature of the HKSAR shall be constituted by elections. The Joint Declaration stipulates that the government will be composed of local inhabitants and the elections or consultations will be held locally.