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The following is the transcript of the remarks to the media made by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr David Lan, at the Press Centre of the Legislative Council election in the Convention and Exhibition Centre today (Sunday):
For the first two hours - the most up-to-date figures we have are still at 9.30 am - it shows that we have about 100,000 votes cast as at 9.30 am. Although I myself believe that the figure for 10.30 am should be ready very soon but that is what we have got.
Compared with last time, in 1995 at the same hour, we almost have doubled the number of turnout but I don't think we should be complacent about it, I think we should still work very hard. And particularly, the weather today is not that good and it is raining, and I would ask everyone who has registered as a voter to come forward to cast their vote, despite the fact that they have to bring an umbrella. Wherever they go they probably will need to bring an umbrella today, so why don't they just drop nearby, the nearest polling station and cast their vote.
In the first hour there was some error in the calculation of the percentage but when I mentioned the first hour's statistics at the St Stephen Girl's School after I cast the vote, I only gave the numbers - I said 30-plus - 33,000 compared with 17,000 on the last occasion. We had a larger turnout this time. But when the figure was fed into the computer system, somehow there was a technical error so the way they calculated the percentage went wrong. But we have rectified the situation, it is not something that serious. It could happen and it is certainly not the end of the world and I hope we won't make that same technical error again.
End/Sunday, May 24, 1998
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