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The nomination period for the 2016 Legislative Council General Election will run from July 16 to 29.
The Legislative Council General Election will be held on September 4. 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 (June 10).
"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, planning and landscape; 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 elected District Council members.
"Details on the qualification and disqualification for nomination as a candidate are set out in sections 37 and 39 respectively of the Legislative Council Ordinance," the spokesman said.
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 for the functional constituency election 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.
The Returning Officers for the five geographical constituencies and 29 functional constituencies in the election have been appointed. They will deal with the nomination of candidates and other electoral matters for the constituency under their charge.
"Completed nomination forms and the election deposit must be submitted by the nominees in person to the respective Returning Officers within the nomination period. Nominations are accepted between 9am and 5pm from Mondays to Fridays and between 9am and noon on Saturdays. A deposit of $50,000 needs to be paid by each list of candidates for the geographical constituency election. Each nominee for the functional constituency election or each list of candidates for the District Council (second) functional constituency has to pay an election deposit of $25,000. Nominees 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 are available at the District Offices, the relevant Returning Officer's office, and the offices of the REO at 10/F, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, or Unit 2301-2303, 23/F, Millennium City 6, 392 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon. They can also be downloaded from the REO website (www.reo.gov.hk).
"Nominees are advised to submit their nominations as early as possible to allow time to correct mistakes, if any, in the nomination forms before the deadline," the spokesman said.
Notices of the nomination period for the 2016 Legislative Council General Election and the appointment of Returning Officers, with their office addresses, were gazetted today.
Copies of the nomination forms are available for public inspection at the offices of the Returning Officers for geographical constituencies and functional constituencies during ordinary business hours after the start of the nomination period. Members of the public may also inspect copies of the nomination forms of all the functional constituency elections at the REO office at Unit 2301-2303, 23/F, Millennium City 6, 392 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon.
For enquiries, please call the election hotline on 2891 1001.
Ends/Friday, June 10, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:12
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