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Proposed LegCo election guidelines published
The Boundary and Election Commission (BEC) today (Friday) published its proposed guidelines on election-related activities in respect of the Legislative Council Elections for public consultation.
The BEC Chairman, Mr Justice Woo Kwok-hing, said at a press conference that the guidelines were aimed at ensuring that elections would be conducted openly, fairly and honestly.
The one-month public consultation will start tomorrow and last until April 30. During the period from April 12 to 22, the BEC will meet, by appointment, interested individuals and organisations to receive their oral or written representations.
The 16-chapter proposed guidelines explain in detail the electoral procedure, the regulations which candidates and their agents should observe and the areas to which they should pay special attention.
Mr Justice Woo said, in drawing up the draft guidelines, the BEC had used the electoral guidelines for the 1994 District Board Elections and the 1995 Municipal Council Elections as blueprints.
Experience in the two elections were also drawn formulating the proposed arrangements for the LegCO Elections on September 17.
There will be 20 seats for geographical constituencies (GC), 30 seats for 29 functional constituencies (FC) and 10 seats for the election committee constituency (ECC).
A number of new arrangements were proposed. These include:
A "centralised" polling station each for the ECC and the three FCs with the smallest number of electors (Urban Council, Regional Council and the Rural FCs).
As regards the remaining 26 FCs, polling will be held on a territory-wide basis, in the same polling stations designated for the GC elections.
Under this arrangement. the majority of the electors will be offered maximum convenience as they will be able to cast their votes for both GC and FC at the same polling station near their homes.
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