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The nomination period of candidates for Village Representative By-elections was gazetted today (September 1).
Nine Village Representative vacancies will be open to nominations from next Thursday (September 7) until September 20.
The by-elections will cover five Indigenous Inhabitant Representative and four Resident Representative posts for nine villages.
To run for the Indigenous Inhabitant Representative by-elections, a candidate must be an indigenous inhabitant as well as an elector of the Indigenous Village and ordinarily reside in Hong Kong.
As for the Resident Representative by-elections, a candidate must be a resident of the Existing Village and have resided there for six years immediately preceding the nomination. He or she must also be an elector of the Village.
All candidates of both categories must be permanent Hong Kong residents aged 21 or above. Nobody is allowed to stand as a candidate in more than one village. Each candidate must be nominated by at least five electors from that village. Each elector may nominate only one candidate for his or her village.
Nomination forms will be available at the Public Enquiry Service Centres of all District Offices, the Home Affairs Department and the Village Representative Elections website (www.had.gov.hk/vre).
Nomination forms must be submitted in person to the Returning Officer, that is, the District Officer of the respective Village, by 5pm on September 20 (Hong Kong time).
A spokesman of the Home Affairs Department said that if there was more than one validly nominated candidate for the same village, a poll would be held for that village on Sunday, October 15, 2006. Eligible voters will receive a polling notice which specifies the date, time and place of the poll.
For enquiries, please call 2152 1521.
Ends/Friday, September 1, 2006
Issued at HKT 09:30
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