The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:

Preparations for the Election Committee subsector elections on April 2 have reached the final stage as the nomination period is about to conclude in two days' time.

A total of 683 members of the Election Committee will be returned from 35 subsectors representing various trades, professions, labour, social services, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Hong Kong delegates and district-based organisations.

These members, together with the 77 ex-officio members and 40 representatives nominated by the Religious Subsector, will form a 800-strong Election Committee.

Speaking at a press conference to review the progress of the preparations, the Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Woo Kwok-hing, called on prospective candidates intending to join the race to hand in nomination forms without delay to allow time for any errors to be corrected before the close of nominations.

"We have done our best to make the nomination procedure as simple as possible. A nominee is required to give only the minimum amount of information necessary to meet legal and administrative requirements," he said.

"A candidate only needs to have his nomination paper subscribed by at least five voters registered for the subsector concerned and pays an election deposit of $1,000," he added.

But he advised candidates to include more than the minimum required number of subscribers in their nomination forms to avoid the risk of invalidation of their nominations should any subscribers be subsequently found not to be voters for the subsector concerned.

"The Election Committee has the right to choose 10 Legislative Councillors on May 24. Don't miss your chance to become a member of this committee.

"I hope to see as many candidates as possible from various subsectors come forward to give the 140,000 voters a choice on April 2," he said.

To qualify for nomination, a candidate must be aged 18 or above and is a registered elector for a geographical constituency. He must also either be a registered voter for the subsector concerned or satisfy the Returning Officer that he has a substantial connection with the subsector, and he must not be disqualified on other statutory grounds.

A candidate cannot be nominated for more than one subsector, Mr Justice Woo said.

Nomination forms are available from the Returning Officer of the subsector concerned, District Offices, the Registration and Electoral Office on the 10th floor of Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, and the website, http://www.info.gov.hk.

Completed forms should be returned to the relevant Returning Officer in person during office hours (9 am to 5 pm) by this Friday (March 20).

After the nomination period closes, a briefing will be arranged for all the candidates at 10 am the following morning (Saturday) at Hall 5A of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Returning officers will draw lots to determine the order of names of candidates on ballot papers and to allocate designated spots to candidates for putting up election advertisements.

Talking about arrangements on the polling day, Mr Justice Woo said that 96 polling stations had been identified and that polling would last 15 hours, running from 7.30 am to 10.30 pm.

Every subsector will be assigned one or more polling stations in accordance with the size of its electorate. The Education Subsector, with the biggest electorate of 56,000, will be assigned 18 polling stations.

To facilitate voting by the disabled, 36 of the polling stations have been designated as special polling stations. A disabled voter may apply to the Chief Electoral Officer at least three days before the polling day for voting at a special polling station designated for his subsector.

Counting of votes will be done by computers at a central counting station to be set up at Hall 3 of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

To help voters and members of the public better understand the counting process, two demonstration sessions on the use of computer counting devices, known as optical mark readers, will be held at 3 pm and 4 pm on Saturday (March 21) at Hall 5A of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Interested persons are requested to reserve a seat by calling 2588 1212 before Friday.

Mr Justice Woo said that poll cards and candidates' introductory leaflets would be sent to voters at the end of this month.

"By that time, voters will have a clearer picture of where and when to vote as well as the personal particulars of candidates who seek to represent their subsectors," he said.