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The two-week nomination period for the 2008 Legislative Council (LegCo) election will start on Saturday (July 19) and run until August 1.
In the LegCo election on September 7, 30 members will be returned by geographical constituencies and another 30 by functional constituencies.
"To run for a seat in a geographical constituency or a functional constituency, a nominee must be a registered geographical constituency elector aged 21 or above, and have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for the three years immediately before his or her nomination," a spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) said today (July 17).
"The nominee must be a Chinese citizen who is a Hong Kong permanent resident with no right of abode in a foreign country," the spokesman said.
However, the candidature in 12 functional constituencies is open to Hong Kong permanent residents who are not Chinese nationals or who have the right of abode in a foreign country. These constituencies are: legal; accountancy; engineering; architectural, surveying and planning; real estate and construction; tourism; commercial (first); industrial (first); finance; financial services; import and export; and insurance.
For the functional constituency election, the nominee must also be a registered elector for, or have a substantial connection with, the relevant functional constituency.
Nomination forms can be obtained from District Offices, the respective Returning Officers' offices, or the REO at 10/F, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai. They can also be downloaded at the election website (www.elections.gov.hk).
Completed nomination forms must be submitted in person by the nominees to the relevant Returning Officers at their offices within the nomination period, from 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday and from 9am to noon on Saturday.
For the geographical constituency election, each list of candidates has to be subscribed by 100 registered electors of the constituency concerned and a deposit of $50,000 must be paid.
For the functional constituency election, each nominee must be subscribed by 10 registered electors of the constituency concerned and pay a deposit of $25,000.
The spokesman urged nominees to submit their nomination forms as early as possible so that they will have time to rectify any mistakes in the forms before the close of nomination.
Enquiries about the nomination procedure can be made to the election hotline at 2891 1001. Information about the election is available at the election website at www.elections.gov.hk.
Ends/Thursday, July 17, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:21
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