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The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
The counting of votes for the 2007 Legislative Council by-election for the Hong Kong geographical constituency was concluded smoothly at 2.55am today (December 3). Chan Fang Anson was elected with 175,874 votes to fill the vacant seat in the Legislative Council.
It took about 4.5 hours to complete the counting of 321,938 ballot papers after polling ended last night (December 2).
Speaking at the media centre for the by-election after the announcement of the election result, the Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Pang Kin-kee, said, "The by-election was concluded successfully. I consider the counting of votes efficient and the overall electoral arrangements satisfactory."
"All the polling and counting staff had took part in the District Council Election two weeks ago and were familiarised with the counting arrangement. That explains why the whole counting process was conducted so smoothly," he added.
The commission will review the electoral arrangements and look into areas for further improvement. A report will be submitted to the Chief Executive on matters relating to the by-election within three months after the conclusion of the by-election.
The commission is grateful to the 2,600 polling and counting staff and the Government departments involved in the by-election. The commission also thanked the electors for exercising their voting rights in the by-election, and the candidates and agents for their co-operation. They have all contributed to maintaining the openness, honesty and fairness of the by-election.
Ends/Monday, December 3, 2007
Issued at HKT 04:20
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