**********************************************************
Nominations for the 2012 Legislative Council Election will start tomorrow (July 18). The two-week nomination period will run until July 31.
Voting for the Legislative Council Election will be held on September 9. A total of 70 members, 35 from geographical constituencies and 35 from functional constituencies, will be returned.
"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," a spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) said today (July 17).
"A nominee for the geographical constituency election or the functional constituency election must also have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for the three years immediately preceding the date of his nomination, and must be a Chinese citizen who is a Hong Kong permanent resident with no right of abode in a foreign country," he 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.
"Except in the District Council (first) and District Council (second) functional constituencies, a nominee for the functional constituency election must be a registered elector for, or have a substantial connection with, the relevant functional constituency. Nominees running for a seat in the District Council (first) functional constituency must be a registered elector for the constituency, and for the District Council (second) functional constituency, nominees must be an elected District Council member,กจ the spokesman said.
Details on the eligibility and disqualification for nomination as a candidate are set out in sections 37 and 39 respectively of the Legislative Council Ordinance.
Nominees must submit in person the completed nomination forms and the election deposit to the respective Returning Officer within the nomination period. Nominations are accepted between 9am and 5pm from Mondays to Fridays and between 9am and noon on Saturdays. Each list of candidates for the geographical constituency election has to pay an election deposit of $50,000. An election deposit of $25,000 needs to be paid by each nominee for the functional constituency election or each list of candidates for the District Council (second) functional constituency.
"Nominees are advised to hand in their nomination forms as early as possible so that they will have time to correct any errors in their forms before the close of nomination. They are also encouraged to pay the election deposit by cashier order or cash to avoid unwarranted complications arising from a cheque not being honoured," the spokesman said.
Nomination forms can be obtained from the District Offices, the relevant Returning Officer's office, or the REO on 10/F, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai. They can also be downloaded from the REO website (www.reo.gov.hk).
For the geographical constituency election, each list of candidates needs to be subscribed by not less than 100 registered electors of the constituency concerned and the number of subscribers on a nomination form must not exceed 200. An elector may subscribe only one nomination as regards a particular geographical constituency election.
Except in the District Council (second) functional constituency, each nominee running for a seat in the functional constituency must be subscribed by 10 registered electors of the constituency concerned and the number of subscribers on a nomination form must not be more than 20. An elector may subscribe any number of nomination forms up to the number of seats in any functional constituency.
For the District Council (second) functional constituency election, each list of candidates needs to be subscribed by not less than 15 registered electors of the District Council (first) functional constituency. An elector of the District Council (first) functional constituency can subscribe one nomination only for either a candidate of the District Council (first) functional constituency election or a candidate list of the District Council (second) functional constituency election.
For enquiries, please call the election hotline on 2891 1001.
Ends/Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Issued at HKT 14:30
NNNN