TNAG-1750-FCO40-2470-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1988 — Page 158

288 of the Laws of Hong Kong) provides for interim or perpetual court injunctions to be taken out by the injured party, such action can take time. The review recommended an additional provision in the Ordinance, specifically to cov ame-dropping, by requiring candidates to seek and obtain prior written consent before using the name of any other person or organization in their election activities, and by making a breach of this provision an offence.

154. Election expenses: the present limits on election expenses are $20,000 for District Boards, $35,000 for the Municipal Councils and $10,000 and $30,000 respectively for electoral college and functional constituency elections to the Legislative Council. Complaints have been made that the limit for the Municipal Councils in particular is inadequate; an analysis of returns on election expenses shows that an average of $28,500 per candidate was spent on election activities at the last municipal council elections. It is difficult to establish a clear relationship between the level of spending and the size of the electorate, given such variable factors as the competitiveness of the elections, the availability of campaign funds and the geographical spread of the electorate. Nevertheless, it is for consideration whether the limit on election expenses for the municipal council elections should be raised.

155. Election expenses returns: the review recommended that candidates should be required to describe their election expenses more fully in order to facilitate assessment and investigation (if necessary), and that services in kind. (e.g. free printing of campaign literature) should be included in the return.

156. Copy of the final register for candidates: there has been fairly strong objection from the public to the disclosure to candidates of the identity card numbers of electors. Although such information forms part of the final register, it is of no practical use to candidates. It is therefore proposed to omit the identity card numbers of electors from the candidates' copies of the final register and from the address labels produced for mailing purposes.

39