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The Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure) (District Councils) (Amendment) Regulation 2007 will be gazetted on Friday (May 11).
The amendment regulation mainly provides for two categories of amendments to the Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure) (District Councils) Regulation, which covers the electoral procedures of District Council elections.
"Firstly, there are miscellaneous amendments to align the electoral procedures for the District Council elections, where appropriate, with those for the Legislative Council elections, the Election Committee subsector elections, and the Chief Executive elections," a Commission spokesman said today (May 8).
The legislative amendments are related to, among other things, specifying the Chief Electoral Officer's power to revoke the appointment of electoral staff with reasonable cause, refining the electoral arrangements to facilitate the keeping of order within polling stations on polling day and the counting of votes, and increasing the maximum term of imprisonment for unauthorised filming, photographing or audio/video recording within a polling station and violation of secrecy of vote.
"Secondly, there are amendments consequential to the enactment of the Particulars Relating to Candidates on Ballot Papers (Legislative Council) (Amendment) Regulation 2007, which was tabled at the Legislative Council on March 28 and completed its negative vetting procedure on April 25," the spokesman said.
These amendments seek to allow District Council election candidates to have certain specified particulars printed on ballot papers, which include the names, abbreviations of names and emblems of prescribed bodies; personal emblems and photographs of candidates; and the words "independent candidate" or "non-affiliated candidate". This will facilitate identification of candidates by electors.
The Electoral Affairs Commission (Electoral Procedure) (District Councils) (Amendment) Regulation 2007 will be tabled at the Legislative Council on May 16 for negative vetting. Subject to the passage of the amendment regulation, the revised arrangements will apply to the 2007 District Council ordinary election to be held in November this year.
Ends/Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:42
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