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Following is a transcript of remarks by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Stephen Lam, at a media session after attending the 10th anniversary of Roadshow at Sky 100 today (November 5):
Chief Secretary for Administration: On the part of the Government, we are very committed to looking after the needs of the grassroot sector in Hong Kong. We very much welcome individual commercial organisations and NGOs to take part in this initiative, to look after those who are less well-off among Hong Kong community, and that is why we would like to promote the work of the Community Care Fund and Family Council on the part of the Government.
As regards tomorrow's District Council election, we believe it is going to be an important occasion in terms of the constitutional development of Hong Kong. This time, the District Council election will encompass the largest number of directly elected seats. In the course of last four years, we have now increased the number of elected seats from 405 to 412. As regards the future of constitutional development, this time the District Council election will be critical. The 412 District Councillors whom we are going to elect tomorrow, among themselves they will nominate candidates for standing in the Legislative Council elections to be held in September 2012 and these candidates will be elected by 3.3 million Hong Kong voters next year. This will be an important step in Hong Kong's constitutional development and that is why we would like to encourage all registered voters to come out and vote tomorrow.
On the part of the Government, we are actually investing more financial resources this year round to encourage voters to come out to vote. But I also believe that the work done by different political parties and individual candidates over the years to build up a network of support and connections within their respective communities will be the most critical factor in terms of encouraging voters to come out and vote tomorrow and in terms of securing voters to support their candidates. This is the key consideration.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, November 5, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:18
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