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The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
Nine amendment regulations on electoral procedures, voter registration and other practical arrangements will be gazetted tomorrow (May 13).
"These amendment regulations aim to amend the relevant subsidiary legislation under the Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance to prepare for the District Council (DC), Election Committee subsector (ECSS), Chief Executive (CE) and Legislative Council (LegCo) elections to be held in 2011 and 2012," a spokesman for the Electoral Affairs Commission said today (May 12).
The spokesman said that the amendments fell under four categories.
The first category concerns amendments to align or improve electoral procedures. These include allowing candidates of the DC, ECSS, CE and LegCo elections to submit a declaration and a copy of their electronic election advertisement to the Returning Officer electronically; and empowering the Presiding Officers in the DC and LegCo elections to adjourn the count of votes at their respective counting stations if the count is likely to be obstructed, disrupted, undermined or seriously affected by a specified occurrence.
The second category concerns amendments to the voting arrangements for electors in custody. After the introduction of electoral procedures in 2009 to facilitate electors in custody to vote, further amendments are made to refine these procedures in light of the experience gained in the 2010 LegCo By-election.
The third category concerns amendments consequential to the Chief Executive Election (Amendment) Ordinance 2011. Some amendments are made to provide for registration arrangements for the ten special members of the Election Committee. Some amendments cover the voting arrangements for the CE election in order to tie in with new provisions in the amended Chief Executive Election Ordinance.
The last category concerns amendments consequential to the Legislative Council (Amendment) Ordinance 2011. These amendments include detailed arrangements for voter registration and the compilation of the first register of electors for the new DC (second) functional constituency (FC), and electoral arrangements for the DC (second) FC in which a proportional representation list system will be adopted.
The spokesman said that the amendments would cover the following nine regulations:
* the Electoral Affairs Commission (Registration) (Electors for Legislative Council Functional Constituencies)(Voters for Election Committee Subsectors)(Members of Election Committee) Regulation;
* the Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure)(Legislative Council) Regulation;
* the Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure)(District Councils) Regulation;
* the Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure)(Election Committee) Regulation;
* the Electoral Procedure (Chief Executive Election) Regulation;
* the Electoral Procedure (Village Representative Election) Regulation;
* the Electoral Affairs Commission (Nominations Advisory Committees (Legislative Council)) Regulation;
* the Particulars Relating to Candidates on Ballot Papers (Legislative Council and District Councils) Regulation; and
* the Electoral Affairs Commission (Financial Assistance for Legislative Council Elections and District Council Elections)(Application and Payment Procedure) Regulation.
The amendment regulations will be tabled at the LegCo on May 18.
Ends/Thursday, May 12, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:35
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