Special voter registration arrangements from tomorrow until July 5
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     The Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Ordinance 2021 has been published in the Gazette and came into effect today (May 31). Under the Ordinance, there are major changes to the composition of the Election Committee (EC), EC subsectors (ECSSs) and Legislative Council functional constituencies (FCs). To allow individuals and bodies whose eligibility is affected and those who are newly eligible to handle their voter registration (VR) matters, the special VR arrangements will start tomorrow (June 1) and end on July 5.
 
     The following individuals and bodies should submit VR applications from tomorrow to July 5 (both days inclusive).
 
Ex-officio members of the EC
 
     The following individuals must complete and submit the following specified forms no later than July 5 to register as ex-officio members of the EC:
 
  • Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC deputies) and HKSAR members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC members) should complete the REO-EC(X1) form and submit their registration forms through the Friends of Hong Kong Association Limited;
  • Relevant "specified persons" (i.e., in general, holders of the specified offices of the subsectors) should complete the REO-EC(X2) form; or
  • Relevant "designated persons" (i.e. persons who are holding an office in a relevant body and are designated by the "specified persons" under certain circumstances) should complete the REO-EC(X3) form.

     If the relevant individuals have not yet registered as electors of a geographical constituency (GC), they should also complete and submit an application form (REO-GC) at the same time and by the same deadline.
 
ECSSs
 
     All individuals and bodies who are eligible to register as voters for ECSSs, regardless of whether they are currently registered as ECSS voters, must submit applications to register no later than July 5, before they can be included in the 2021 ECSS provisional register.
 
     Individual applicants should complete the REO-SS(I) form, while body applicants should complete the REO-SS(B) form. When submitting the application form, the governing authority of the relevant body must appoint an authorised representative (AR) on the form to cast the vote on behalf of the body (if successfully registered) at an election.
 
     If the aforementioned individual applicants or ARs to be appointed by body applicants have not yet registered as electors of a GC, they should also complete and submit the application form (REO-GC) at the same time and by the same deadline.

FCs
 
     For currently registered individual and corporate electors of FCs, if they are no longer eligible to register in their original FC or if their original FC has been deleted after the Ordinance came into effect, and if they are eligible to register in another FC, the individuals and bodies concerned may submit an application to register in any other FC for which they are eligible no later than the deadline of July 5.
 
     On the other hand, generally speaking, for currently registered individual and corporate FC electors whose registration eligibility is not affected by the Ordinance, they may not apply to change to register in another FC within the special VR arrangements. Nevertheless, any individual or body who is eligible to register as an elector in the following nine FCs (regardless of whether he/she/it is currently registered as an FC elector) may choose to submit an application to register in any one of these nine FCs no later than July 5:
 
  1. Commercial (third) FC (corporate electors only);
  2. Technology and innovation FC (corporate electors only);
  3. HKSAR NPC deputies, HKSAR members of the National Committee of the CPPCC, and representatives of relevant national organisations FC (individual electors only);
  4. Agriculture and fisheries FC (corporate electors only);
  5. Transport FC (corporate electors only);
  6. Tourism FC (corporate electors only);
  7. Catering FC (corporate electors only);
  8. Sports, performing arts, culture and publication FC (corporate electors only); or
  9. Medical and health services FC (individual electors only).
 
     Individuals who wish to apply for registration in the FCs should complete the REO-FC(I) form, while bodies should complete the REO-FC(B) form. When submitting the application form, the governing authority of the relevant body must appoint an AR on the form to cast the vote on behalf of the body (if successfully registered) at an election.
 
     If an aforementioned individual applicant or AR to be appointed by a body applicant has not yet registered as a GC elector, he/she should also complete and submit the application form (REO-GC) at the same time and by the same deadline.
 
GCs
 
     Currently registered GC electors need not submit VR applications again within the special VR period.
 
     Nevertheless, individuals who meet any of the following registration eligibility criteria but have not yet registered as GC electors must submit the application form (REO-GC) to register as GC electors no later than July 5, before they can be registered as ex-officio members of the EC/ECSS voters/FC electors (as the case may be):
 
  1. Individuals who are eligible to register as ex-officio members of the EC;
  2. Individuals who are eligible to register as voters in any of the ECSSs;
  3. Individuals who are eligible to register as electors in any of the two FCs, namely (a) HKSAR NPC deputies, HKSAR members of the National Committee of the CPPCC and representatives of relevant national organisations FC; or (b) Medical and health services FC;
  4. Individuals appointed by eligible corporate voters/electors/body applicants as their ARs; or
  5. Individuals who are eligible to be nominated as EC members in the four ECSSs: (a) Accountancy subsector; (b) Chinese medicine subsector; (c) Legal subsector; or (d) Technology and innovation subsector.

Obtaining and submitting application forms
 
     The specified VR application forms can be downloaded from the VR webpage of the REO (www.reo.gov.hk) or obtained from the offices of the Registration and Electoral Office (REO). When submitting their VR application forms, individual and body applicants should also provide their telephone numbers and email addresses, so that the REO can contact them more promptly and efficiently when needed.
 
     Completed application forms may be submitted no later than July 5 via the following channels:
 
  • By post to the REO office, 13/F, Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, 1 Trademart Drive, Kowloon Bay;
  • By email to (form@reo.gov.hk) - please do not attach a large number of VR application forms to a single email and send it to the REO's email account, as the large file size may cause delivery failure. Also, submitting application forms through email by providing a hyperlink of cloud storage is not accepted;
  • By fax to 2891 1180; or
  • Through the REO e-Form Upload Platform (www.reo-form.gov.hk) - if submitting via this channel, please take note of the application number generated by the system so that the application status may be checked afterwards when needed.

     For enquiries on VR matters, please visit the "Improve Electoral System" thematic website (www.cmab.gov.hk/improvement/en/home/index.html) or the VR webpage of the REO (www.reo.gov.hk), or call the REO hotline at 2891 1001.

Ends/Monday, May 31, 2021
Issued at HKT 18:12

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