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The Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Mr Michael Suen, today (December 3) appealed to the some 630,000 registered electors for the Hong Kong Island (HKI) geographical constituency to exercise their franchise by casting their ballots in the Legislative Council Hong Kong Island By-election to be held next Sunday (December 10).

Speaking at the Hong Kong Island By-election Regional Carnival jointly organised by the four District Offices on HKI, Mr Suen said : "The only way to ensure that the candidate who is preferred by the most number of eligible electors wins is for the registered electors to actually exercise their civic duty by voting."

"With 94 polling stations set up at the most convenient and strategic locations throughout HKI, and the simplicity of our voting procedure, exercising their franchise could be one of the easiest yet most important civic duties an elector can perform," Mr Suen said after officiating at the opening ceremony of the carnival at Southorn Playground in Wan Chai.

Mr Suen added that the Government is obliged by law to hold the by-election to fill the vacant seat.

The Carnival featured performances by popular artistes Miss Gigi Leung Wing-kei, Miss Au Sin-yee, Mr Edmond Leung Hon-man and Mr Lam Po-yee, as well as the VRF Band. There were also games stalls, quizzes related to the By-election, a drama, a talk show, and other audience participation and promotional activities.

Other officiating guests at the Carnival included acting Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Leo Kwan; Deputy Director of Home Affairs, Mrs Agnes Allcock and Assistant Director of Broadcasting (Radio), Mr Shiu Lo-sin.

The guests performed mock voting on stage and helped inflate two giant by-election publicity balloons while election souvenirs were distributed to carnival visitors.

End/Sunday, December 3, 2000

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