25 valid nominations received for the Hong Kong Arts Development Council nomination exercise
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    A spokesman of the Home Affairs Bureau today (September 2) said that a total of 25 eligible candidates had been nominated for the 10 arts interests in the current nomination exercise for the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC). Electioneering will start tomorrow (September 3).

     Seats for four of the ten arts interests (Arts Administration, Arts Education, Drama and Film Arts) are uncontested and no polling is necessary. Nominations for the following six arts interests (Arts Criticism, Dance, Literary Arts, Music, Visual Arts and Chinese Opera (Xiqu)) will be determined by polling. Candidates for the ten arts interests are -

Arts Interest      Candidate           Remarks
-------------      ----------           --------
Arts               Mr WU Shou Nan       Uncontested
Administration     (NG Kang Fai)

Arts Criticism     Mr John Stuart BATTEN
                   Mr CHAN Ching Kiu, Stephen

Arts Education     Ms WONG So Lan       Uncontested

Dance              Mr HO Ho Chuen
                   Ms SIT Chin Wa
                   Mr PO Kwong Hon
                   Mr CHOW Man Fai
                   Ms LEUNG Chui Yan, Janny
                   Mr TSAO Sing Yuen, Willy

Drama              Mr KO Tin Lung       Uncontested

Film Arts          Mr TO Kei Fung       Uncontested

Literary Arts      Mr HAN Shan Bi (HON Man Po)
                   Mr WONG Chi Wa

Music              Ms FEI Barbara
                   Mr WONG Shing Hoi
                   Ms CHEN Chia Lu, Sylvia
                   Ms CHENG Wai
                   Mr TO Wang Hei
                   Mr CHING Sau Wing

Visual Arts        Mr LEE Kam Yin
                   Mr FONG Kin Sang

Chinese Opera      Mr YUEN Siu Fai
(Xiqu)             Ms WONG Yee Man
                   Mr YEUNG Ming

     Polling is scheduled to take place from September 28 to 30 at the Permanent Exhibition Gallery, 1/F, Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, Kowloon Park, Haiphong Road, Tsimshatsui. A cross-interest voting system, which was used in the previous nomination exercises, will continue to be adopted this year.  Voters from all ten arts interests may cast votes for candidates standing for nomination in the six contested arts interests.  A list of the nominated representatives will be submitted to the Chief Executive for consideration of appointment to the Council for the next term, which will begin on January 1, 2008.

     To enable voters to learn more about the candidates, a Candidate Forum will be organised on September 15 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Lecture Hall, Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, Kowloon Park, Haiphong Road, Tsimshatsui. At the forum, candidates will present their platforms and answer questions from voters.

     The Nomination Agent has sent letters containing candidates' platforms to all voters. If voters do not receive the letters by the end of this week, please make inquiries with the nomination agent (Tel: 2520 2857, Fax: 2527 8996).  The candidates' platforms can also be downloaded from the Home Affairs Bureau website www.hab.gov.hk.

     The nomination exercise this year started in May. It is divided into the following four phases -
Phase 1: Registration of members of nominating bodies (May 2 to June 5, 2007 - Completed)
Phase 2: Voter registration (June 29 to August 3, 2007 - Completed)
Phase 3: Nomination of candidates for the respective arts interests (August 14 to August 27, 2007 - Completed)
Phase 4: Electioneering and polling (September 3 to September 30, 2007)

     Since its establishment as a statutory body in June 1995, there have been arts interest representative nomination exercises for the HKADC in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2004 respectively with this year marking the sixth such occasion.

Ends/Sunday, September 2, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:01

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