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The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
The Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) today (November 16) released the proposed guidelines on Election-related Activities in respect of the Chief Executive Elections for public consultation until November 29.
The EAC Chairman, Mr Justice Pang Kin-kee, invited written representations from the public during the consultation period. They are also welcome to express their views at a public forum to be held on November 24.
Written representations can be sent to the EAC Secretariat at 10/F Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Submissions by fax (2511 1682) or e-mail (eacenq@reo.gov.hk) will also be accepted.
"All representations must be submitted by the deadline of November 29. Late representations will not be considered," Mr Justice Pang said.
The proposed guidelines are modelled on the guidelines used for the Chief Executive Election held in 2005, with suitable alterations to reflect the latest amendments to the Chief Executive Election Ordinance and its subsidiary legislation, and to align the electoral arrangements for the CE elections, where appropriate, with those for the other public elections.
A major area of updating is that the proposed guidelines have set out the polling arrangements for an uncontested election, in addition to that for a contested election, following the provisions in the law.
"As already provided in the Chief Executive Election Ordinance, if there is only one validly nominated candidate in the election, each voter can cast either a 'support' vote or a 'not support' vote at the poll. The candidate will be returned if the number of 'support' votes obtained by him exceeds half of the total number of valid votes cast," Mr Justice Pang said.
The proposed guidelines also set out the increased penalty under the law for offences relating to secrecy of votes, and for offences relating to unauthorised filming, photographing, audio/video recording within the polling station, from three months imprisonment to six months.
The proposed guidelines can be obtained from the Registration and Electoral Office (10/F Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai), or from the District Offices. They can also be downloaded at www.eac.gov.hk. For enquiries, please call 2891 1001.
Ends/Thursday, November 16, 2006
Issued at HKT 17:39
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