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The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah, called on registered electors to cast their votes in the Legislative Council Election today (September 9).
"Voting is very simple. I encourage electors to exercise their civic rights," Mr Justice Fung said after visiting the polling station at Hong Kong Park Sports Centre this morning.
"With the introduction of the District Council (second) functional constituency, about 3.22 million registered geographical constituency (GC) electors who do not belong to any of the 28 traditional functional constituencies (FCs) will cast one vote each in their respective GC and the District Council (second) functional constituency," Mr Justice Fung said.
"What all electors need to do is to bring their identity document to the designated polling station specified on their poll card, choose one candidate list each from the GC and District Council (second) functional constituency ballot papers, and use the chop provided to stamp a tick in the circle next to the chosen list.
"They should then fold the ballot papers inward once before putting the GC ballot paper into the blue ballot box and District Council (second) functional constituency ballot paper into the white ballot box," he said.
Mr Justice Fung reminded electors to note the address of the designated polling station on their poll card to ensure that they visit the correct polling station. They may only vote at the designated polling station allocated to them.
A total of 549 ordinary polling stations and 25 dedicated polling stations across Hong Kong are open today for about 3.466 million registered electors to cast their votes.
The ordinary polling stations and the three dedicated polling stations set up at police stations are open to electors from 7.30am to 10.30pm. For security reasons, the 22 dedicated polling stations set up in penal institutions will open from 9am to 4pm.
As at 9.30am, 135,069 GC electors have voted, bringing the cumulative turnout rate to 3.9%. Among them, 123,592 are also electors of the District Council (second) functional constituency, representing 3.84% of the electorate of the sector. About 10,061 electors of the other FCs have cast their votes. The cumulative turnout rate is 4.89%.
Mr Justice Fung and Commission members Mr Lawrence Lok Ying-kam, SC, and Professor Andrew Chan Chi-fai, will inspect various polling stations across Hong Kong today to see how electoral activities are conducted.
Electors who do not have a poll card in hand may call the election hotline on 2891 1001 to enquire where they should vote. The hotline will be in service until 11pm to answer enquiries relating to the election.
A complaints hotline on 2827 7251 will also operate until 11pm to handle complaints about breaches of electoral rules and guidelines.
Hourly voter turnouts, counting progress and election results will be available on the election website (www.elections.gov.hk).
Ends/Sunday, September 9, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:05
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