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The following is issued on behalf of the Election Affairs Commission:
The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Pang Kin-kee, has called on electors to cast their vote as early as possible in today's (November 18) District Council Election.
He made the appeal after visiting the polling station at Leighton Hill Community Hall this morning.
A total of 488 polling stations across Hong Kong are open from 7.30am to 10.30pm today for about 2.96 million registered electors in the contested constituencies to cast their vote.
As at 10.30am, 185,351 electors have voted, bringing the accumulative turnout rate to 6.26%, compared with the 6.59% accumulative turnout rate recorded at the same hour in the 2003 polls.
"Voting is simple. It takes you only a few minutes to exercise your right," Mr Justice Pang said.
He reminded voters again that they should follow the proper procedures when voting.
"Bring along your Hong Kong Identity Card to your designated polling station. You will be given a chop bearing a 'tick' to mark the ballot paper. All you have to do is to stamp a 'tick' in the circle next to the name of your chosen candidate on the ballot paper with the chop provided and fold the ballot paper once to conceal the marking before putting it into the ballot box."
"Do not use a pen or other means to mark or correct the ballot paper or else it will be treated as invalid. If an elector makes any mistake in marking the ballot paper, they should return it to the Presiding Officer and ask for a replacement ballot paper," he said.
Mr Justice Pang reminded electors not to use mobile phones or pagers, take photographs, or do filming and video or audio recording inside polling stations to protect the secrecy of votes. These are offences punishable by fines and imprisonment.
Electors who do not have a poll card in hand may call 2891 1001 to enquire about the polling station they should visit. The hotline will operate until 11pm tonight.
Mr Justice Pang and the other two members of the Commission, Mr Lawrence Lok Ying-kam, SC, and Professor Andrew Chan Chi-fai, will go on three separate routes to inspect various polling stations in the 18 districts to see how electoral activities are conducted.
A total of 866 candidates are competing for 364 seats at today's polls.
Hourly voter turnouts and election results can be found at www.elections.gov.hk.
Complaints about the polls can be made to the hotline 2827 7251.
Ends/Sunday, November 18, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:36
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