invite the public to voice their views on the Basic Law (Draft). A form was provided in the Basic Law (Draft) Made Simple published by the Secretariat so that members of the public could put down their opinions. In addition, local media coverage and commentaries as well as the views of the public expressed through the mass media also constituted a major source of opinions.
13. Before the consultation exercise was launched, the special groups of the CCBL held meetings to discuss consultation on the Draft. At these meetings, some members proposed that the CCBL should conduct a public opinion poll or referendum to gauge the opinions of people in Hong Kong on the Basic Law (Draft) or on some of the controversial issues in the Draft such as political structure. However, there was no unanimous view. Members of the public also put forward quite a number of suggestions regarding this issue. The Executive Committee of the CCBL therefore held four meetings to discuss the issue which was also put on the agenda for the seventh general meeting of the CCBL. Finally, the Executive Committee voted on the issue. It was decided that the CCBL would not conduct a public opinion poll on the Basic Law (Draft). For the development of the CCBL's discussion on this issue and the different opinions arising from the discussion, as well as the technical and operational problems involved in a public opinion poll, please refer to Annex I to this report: Issues Relating to Public Opinion Polls.
14. Although the CCBL decided that it would not conduct a public opinion poll on the Basic Law (Draft), it has stated time and again that other organizations and individuals are welcome to conduct public opinion polls and submit their results to the CCBL, and such results will be forwarded to the Drafting Committee for consideration. (For the way in which CCBL handles results of opinion polls submitted by outside parties, please refer to the Part IV of this report.)
Principles and Methods of Processing Opinions
15. To ensure that the various opinions collected could be accurately relayed to the Drafting Committee, the opinions were processed in accordance with the following principles and methods:
15.1 Only opinions and proposals which are on the contents of the Basic Law (Draft) or on relevant issues and which are received within the period from the publication of the Basic Law (Draft) to 31 October 1989 shall be processed.
15.2 All senders of submissions must provide the following details:
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