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Members of the public are invited to a preview of two of the 496 polling stations before they come into service during the Legislative Council election on Sunday (May 24).

The two polling stations in North Point and Wan Chai will be open for public visit from 2 pm to 5 pm on Friday (May 22) and from 9 am to noon on Saturday (May 23).

A spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office said: "Anybody who is interested to see for themselves the facilities of the polling stations is welcome. No prior appointment is necessary."

"We are making electoral arrangements in a fair, open and honest way. We hope that the preview will enable the public to better understand the voting procedure," he said.

The polling station at Hong Kong Teachers' Centre, 4 Pak Fuk Road, North Point, will serve about 12,000 electors of geographical constituencies (GCs) living nearby. Those who are also functional constituency (FC) electors may cast their ballots at the same polling station.

The polling station on the 27th floor of Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, is one of the four designated polling stations for the 800 members of the Election Committee.

About 2.8 million electors will be entitled to vote in the GC election to return 20 Legislative Councillors.

More than 123,000 of them will have a second vote in 18 FCs to return 20 Legislative Councillors while 800 members of the Election Committee will select 10 Legislative Councillors. Ten candidates of uncontested FCs have already been declared elected.

The spokesman urged all eligible electors to exercise their voting right. "Your vote counts. It definitely has an effect on the outcome of the election," he said.

After polling closes at 10.30 pm on Sunday, all the ballot boxes will be delivered to the central counting station at Exhibition Hall 1 on Level 2 of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai.

Members of the public are welcome to observe how the votes are counted and the announcement of the winners at the counting station's public seating area, which has 1,400 seats.

End/Wednesday, May 20, 1998

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