XN000022-1995-03-06 — Page 29

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SCA satisfied with Municipal Councils elections

The Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Mr Nicholas Ng, said today (Monday) that yesterday's Municipal Councils (MC) elections had been satisfactory both in terms of voters' participation and electoral arrangements.

He told a media session this morning that there was clear evidence that the people of Hong Kong were civic-minded and were mature enough to choose their representatives in an orderly manner.

On voter turnout, Mr Ng said over 560,000 people came out to vote yesterday, which was 168,000 (43 per cent) more people as compared with the 1991 MC elections. The number also surpassed the voter turnout in all previous rounds of MC elections.

"The overall turnout rate of 25.8 per cent is also higher than the rate in 1991 (23.2 per cent), although we now have a much greater number of registered electors," he said.

As for electoral arrangements, Mr Ng said the elections were generally very smooth except for a few isolated incidents. He noted that there were fewer complaints this time than in last year's District Boards elections and that most of these were minor ones concerning publicity or electioneering activities.

On whether there should be a cooling-off period on polling day for the coming Legislative Council elections in view of the few isolated scuffles, he said no doubt the Boundary and Election Commission would take into account the experience gained in this election as well as public opinions before firming up the electoral procedures for the September elections.

Mr Ng added that the Commission would now concentrate its work on voter registration and on planning the electoral arrangements for the Legislative Council elections.

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End/Monday, March 6, 1995