********************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
The Electoral Affairs Commission today (June 23) released for public consultation its provisional recommendations on the delineation of the geographical constituencies in respect of the 2012 Legislative Council (LegCo) election. The consultation period will end on July 22.
"The Commission recommends retaining the boundaries and names of the existing five geographical constituencies. The five geographical constituencies will have a total of 35 seats. According to the population distribution, we propose to allocate seven seats for Hong Kong Island, five for Kowloon West, five for Kowloon East, nine for New Territories West and nine for New Territories East," Commission Chairman Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah said at a press conference today.
The Legislative Council Ordinance stipulates that the five geographical constituencies will have a total of 35 seats and each geographical constituency will have five to nine seats.
According to the projections made by an inter-departmental working group led by the Planning Department, Hong Kong will have a population of 7 180 700 by June 30, 2012. Accordingly, on average, in terms of population, each geographical constituency seat will correspond to 205 163 people (known as the "population quota").
The Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance provides that the population in each geographical constituency should not exceed or fall short by more than 15% of the "resulting number" which is obtained by multiplying the "population quota" with the number of seats in that geographical constituency. According to the provisional recommendations of the Commission, the deviations in the five geographical constituencies fall within the permissible range.
The Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance also requires each geographical constituency to be formed by two or more contiguous whole District Council constituencies. Demarcation of the geographical constituencies has also taken into consideration the existing boundaries of districts, the existing boundaries of geographical constituencies, the community identities, the preservation of local ties and physical features such as size, shape, accessibility and development of the relevant areas.
The Commission has explored a number of options but finds the present recommendations most desirable.
"There are no changes in the boundaries or names of the geographical constituencies under the provisional recommendations, so electors will not need to make any adaptations," Mr Justice Fung said.
He also stressed that there were no political factors in the Commission's consideration.
Members of the public are welcome to send written representations to the Commission's Secretariat by post to 10/F Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai. Submissions by fax (2511 1682) or email (eacenq@reo.gov.hk) are also welcome. All representations must reach the Commission by July 22. Late representations will not be considered.
To gather views on the provisional recommendations, the Commission will hold a public forum at 3pm on July 4 at Community Hall, 3/F Causeway Bay Community Centre, 7 Fook Yum Road, Causeway Bay.
"Both supporting and dissenting views are welcome," Mr Justice Fung said.
Maps on the proposed delineation and names of geographical constituencies can be downloaded at the Commission website (www.eac.gov.hk), or inspected at the Registration and Electoral Office, District Offices, post offices, management offices of public housing estates, and major and district public libraries.
For enquiries, please call 2827 1269.
Ends/Thursday, June 23, 2011
Issued at HKT 20:16
NNNN
