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    More than 47,000 registered voters in nine contested subsectors of the Election Committee should have received a poll card informing them where and how to vote in the polls on May 1 (Sunday) from 7.30am to 10.30pm.

    A total of 40 candidates are competing for 15 vacancies in the nine contested subsectors of Textiles and Garment, Accountancy, Architectural, Surveying and Planning, Chinese Medicine, Engineering, Higher Education, Legal, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Hong Kong and Kowloon District Councils.

    The electoral mailing packages sent by the Registration and Electoral Office to voters include a poll card, a map indicating the location of the designated polling station, a voting guide and a leaflet introducing the candidates in their respective subsectors.

    There is also a leaflet from the Independent Commission Against Corruption on clean and fair elections.

    Voters who have not received the package can contact the election hotline at 2891 1001.

    The by-elections are held to fill 27 vacancies in 16 subsectors of the Election Committee, which will elect a new Chief Executive on July 10. Six more vacancies in the Religious Subsector of the Election Committee have been filled by supplementary nominations.

    Polls are not required in the remaining seven Election Committee subsectors because 12 candidates have been elected unopposed to fill the 12 vacancies in these subsectors, which are Finance, Import and Export, Industrial (First), Industrial (Second), Labour, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Heung Yee Kuk.

    Some 3,500 registered voters in these seven subsectors will be sent a notice of uncontested nomination, informing them that they need not go to the polls.

Ends/Thursday, April 28, 2005

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