SCMA speaks on Legislative Council by-election
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    The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Stephen Lam, spoke to the media at the Government Secretariat this morning (August 9). Following is the transcript (English portion):

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs: We estimate that it will take about four months for the by-election of the Legislative Council Hong Kong Island seat to be taken forward. There are various procedures that we have to go through. Firstly, the Legislative Council Secretariat will have to issue a gazette notice signifying that a vacancy in the Legislative Council has arisen. Thereafter, the Registration and Electoral Office will have to deal with this by-election according to established procedures. We need to take into account several factors in scheduling the by-election date. For example, we have to set aside two to three weeks as the nomination period, and four to six weeks as the vote canvassing period.

     In addition, we also need to make administrative arrangements. For example, we need to identify up to 100 voting stations in Hong Kong Island for this by-election to be taken forward.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Thursday, August 9, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:38

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