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Motion to amend election regulations
Following is a speech by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Mr Nicholas Ng, in a motion to amend the Boundary and Election Commission (Registration of Electors) (Functional Constituencies and Election Committee Constituency) Regulation in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
I move the resolution standing in my name in the Order paper.
The purpose of the resolution is to amend the Boundary and Election Commission (Registration of Electors) (Functional Constituencies and Election Committee Constituency) Regulation which was tabled in this Council on 16 November. The Council set up a Subcommittee to study the Regulation after members expressed concern over some of the provisions relating to the detailed arrangements The for registering electors in the nine new functional constituencies (FC). Administration and the Registration and Electoral Office met the Subcommittee on three occasions to discuss Members' concerns and to explore ways to address such concerns. The proposed amendments, which have been fully endorsed by the Boundary and Election Commission (BEC), are the result of those useful discussions.
If I may recap, the registration of electors for the nine new FCs will mainly be operated through a simple notification system. The success of this system relies on the co-operation of the employers in providing some basic information about their employees eligible to vote in the nine new FCs. Some Members are of the view that although employers' co-operation is necessary, they should not be unduly burdened when it comes to the provision of information. Members consider that only the basic information should be obtained for the purpose of registering the electors. This actually has all along been the BEC's guiding principle and it is not adverse to having it spelt out even more precisely. Thus, to put employers' mind at ease, the Commission has agreed to amend Section 6 of the regulation to provide expressly that, for the purpose of sending notification under Section 7 of the Regulation, the Registration Officer can only obtain from an employer information on the nature of business of an organisation, as well as the names and identity card numbers of his employees. The power of the Registration Officer under the rest of Section 6 of the regulation will still be needed to allow him to obtain other information from relevant persons and organisations to update and improve the accuracy of the voter register.