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The nomination period for the 2012 Legislative Council Election will run from July 18 to 31.
The Legislative Council Election will be held on September 9. A total of 70 members, 35 from geographical constituencies and 35 from functional constituencies, will be returned.
"A nominee for the geographical constituency election or the functional constituency election must be a registered geographical constituency elector aged 21 or above who has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for the three years immediately preceding the date of his nomination," a spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) said today (June 22).
"A nominee for the geographical constituency election or the functional constituency election must also be a Chinese citizen who is a Hong Kong permanent resident with no right of abode in a foreign country. 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 and planning; real estate and construction; tourism; commercial (first); industrial (first); finance; financial services; import and export; and insurance," he said.
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 Officer 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 from the District Offices, the relevant Returning Officer's office, or the REO at 10/F, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai. They can also be downloaded from the REO website (www.reo.gov.hk).
"Nominees are advised to submit their nomination forms as early as possible so that they will have time to correct any errors in their forms before nominations close," the spokesman said.
Notices of the nomination period for the 2012 Legislative Council Election and the appointment of Returning Officers, with their office addresses, were gazetted today.
The spokesman urged those who intend to run for the election to read carefully the Guidelines on Election-related Activities in respect of the Legislative Council Election released by the Electoral Affairs Commission today and the relevant electoral legislation. They should also strictly abide by the relevant regulations.
The guidelines can be downloaded from the Commission website (www.eac.gov.hk). Copies of the guidelines can be obtained at the Registration and Electoral Office and the Public Enquiry Service Centres of the District Offices from mid-July.
In light of the amendments to the electoral legislation, the regulations governing the submission of election advertisements have been relaxed. A candidate can post an electronic copy of each one of his election advertisements and the relevant information onto an open platform on the Internet, either maintained by the REO (i.e. the Central Platform) or by the candidate or a person authorised by the candidate (i.e. the Candidate's Platform), for public inspection within one working day after the publication of the election advertisements. Alternatively, the candidate can follow the existing practice of submitting two hard copies each of the election advertisements and one hard copy of the relevant information to the Returning Officer.
"The Central Platform (www.eaplatform.gov.hk) was launched on June 1. Candidates may apply to the Chief Electoral Officer for creation of an account to access the Central Platform for uploading electronic copies of election advertisements and relevant information for public inspection. The specified application forms are distributed with the nomination forms and can also be downloaded from the REO website," the spokesman said.
For enquiries, please call the election hotline on 2891 1001.
Ends/Friday, June 22, 2012
Issued at HKT 14:31
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