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The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:

The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Woo, said that he and his colleagues were extremely happy about the enormous number of electors turning up at the polling stations for the Legislative Council election.

He commented on the voter turnout rate at a press conference early this morning after polling ended at 10.30 pm yesterday (Sunday).

About 1.49 million electors from five geographical constituencies voted in the Legislative Council election, representing 53.29 per cent of the electorate. In the functional constituencies, the figure was 77,813 or 63.5 per cent; while 790 out of the 800 members of the Election Committee voted.

Asked about complaints that some electors had not been issued a commemorative card after casting their votes, he assured the electors that they would be sent the cards by registered mail as soon as possible.

About 1,200 complaints on various election-related matters were lodged on polling day alone. From mid-March to Saturday (May 23), the Complaints Committee of the Electoral Affairs Commission had handled about 380 complaints, mainly related to election advertisements and canvassing activities.

The Commission will submit a report to the Chief Executive three months after the election.

End/Monday, May 25, 1998

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