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The Government published in the Gazette today (June 19) five amendment regulations on electoral procedure to facilitate the voting by prisoners and persons remanded, detained or arrested who are registered electors (electors in custody) to cast their votes in public elections. The five amendment regulations will be tabled at the Legislative Council on June 24.
The five amendment regulations were the Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure) (Legislative Council) (Amendment) Regulation 2009, the Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure) (District Councils) (Amendment) Regulation 2009, the Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure) (Election Committee) (Amendment) Regulation 2009, the Electoral Procedure (Chief Executive Election) (Amendment) Regulation 2009, and the Electoral Procedure (Village Representative Election) (Amendment) Regulation 2009, a spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office said.
Under the amendment regulations, dedicated polling stations will be set up inside penal institutions or other suitable places such as police stations where electors in custody will be allocated to cast their votes. For security reasons, a time slot during the polling hours appointed for a dedicated polling station situated in a penal institution will be assigned to each elector in custody to cast his or her vote.
The poll cards of electors serving sentence of imprisonment will be sent to their prison as far as practicable so that the poll cards can reach them in good time.
For the sake of fairness, it is proposed that canvassing activities by visitors during visits made in their business or official capacities to electors in custody will be prohibited.
To ensure that the elections are conducted in a transparent manner, as in other polling stations, candidates and/or their agents may observe the poll at a dedicated polling station. However, due to security reasons, only candidates may enter the dedicated polling stations set up inside maximum security prisons to observe the poll. For other dedicated polling stations inside penal institutions, either a candidate, his election agent or his polling agent may enter to observe the poll.
Apart from police officers and members of the Civil Aid Service, officers of the Correctional Services Department and other law enforcement agencies will also be authorised to help maintain order inside a dedicated polling station. The Presiding Officer of a dedicated polling station will be empowered to order an elector in custody to leave the dedicated polling station if the elector in custody fails to cast the vote after reasonable opportunity has been given.
The disclosure by any person of the identity of electors in custody will be prohibited in order to protect their privacy and safety.
For Legislative Council general elections, District Council ordinary elections and Village Representative elections, ballot paper sorting stations will be designated for sorting ballot papers cast at dedicated polling stations according to each geographical constituency, each District Council constituency or each village respectively. To safeguard the secrecy of votes during the sorting process, an envelope will be used to enclose a District Council or Village Representative ballot paper cast at a dedicated polling station.
All ballot papers cast at dedicated polling stations will be transferred to the respective main counting stations or central counting station and mixed with the ballot papers cast by other electors before the votes are counted.
Ends/Friday, June 19, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:43
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