The Legislative Council elections should be made up of five geographical constituencies of four to eight seats each, the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs said today.

Speaking on next year's third-term Legco elections, Mr Lam said the maximum number of seats in each constituency should be increased according to the Basic Law.

For the second-term elections in 2000, the Legislative Council Ordinance specified five constituencies of four to six seats each.

However, Mr Lam said the ordinance will need amendment as the Basic Law states that the number of seats returned through direct elections will be increased from 24 to 30 for the third term.

He said the Government proposed the maximum number of constituency seats be eight and minimum be four to keep the number of seats proportionate to the population of the constituency.

If the current boundaries remain unchanged, the smallest constituency, Kowloon West, will have a population of one million by 2004, while the largest, New Territories West, will be two million.

Mr Lam said the Government's proposal had two merits.

"Firstly, this option leaves sufficient room for the Electoral Affairs Commission to decide whether the demarcation of the existing five constituencies should remain intact or not.

"Secondly, stable constituency boundaries enable serving LegCo Members and prospective candidates to cultivate an amicable and sustainable relationship with voters. Minimising changes is advantageous and convenient to voters, candidates, political parties and political groups alike."

Mr Lam said that if the proposal is accepted and the relevant amendment bill for the elections is passed, the Commission will consult the public on its demarcation recommendations before making its final submission to the Chief Executive by September 9.

Mr Lam said the Government recommended that the list voting system used in the last two elections, again be adopted.

The Government also suggested that the maximum amount of election expenses that a candidate or a list of candidates incurs should be no more than $1.50 per voter in the constituency, rounded to the nearest $500,000