Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Patrick Nip, at a media session today (April 7) after attending the special meeting of the Legislative Council Finance Committee:

Reporter: Regarding the LegCo election, would the Government consider postponing it? Secondly, on RTHK asking questions to WHO on Taiwan, how does that show, even by asking questions, that it’s assumed to breach the One-China Principle?

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs: Regarding your second question, I have already responded to it last Saturday and at the meeting just now. So I will not repeat.

     As regards the LegCo election, the first point is that the Electoral Affairs Commission and the Registration and Electoral Office are doing all the necessary preparatory work for the LegCo election, including voter registration, consultation on the guidelines on election-related activities in respect of the Legislative Council Election and making arrangements for recruiting polling staff and finding polling stations. All this preparatory work is ongoing. We are doing our utmost to do it.

     Secondly, because of the epidemic situation, we have to monitor it closely to assess its impact on the society, the public health risks and the possible effect on the LegCo election. So it is too early to say. We will monitor it closely and make an assessment so that we are in a position to do the steps about the gazettal of the polling date. But it’s clear that the Legislative Council Ordinance has set out the timeline, including the time range that the election should be held, the period for nomination and time allowed for campaigns, etc. We would adhere to what is laid out in the Ordinance and plan our work accordingly. Thank you very much.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Issued at HKT 15:20

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