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The Chief Executive in Council has on November 10, 2015 made the Legislative Council Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 5) Order 2015 in accordance with section 83A of the Legislative Council Ordinance (Cap. 542) to increase the subsidy rate of financial assistance for candidates of Legislative Council (LegCo) elections; and also the Maximum Amount of Election Expenses (Legislative Council Election) (Amendment) Regulation 2015 under section 45 of the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance (Cap. 554) to increase the election expenses limits (EELs) for LegCo elections. Both pieces of subsidiary legislation would be published in the Gazette on November 13.
A government spokesman said today (November 11) that after the above pieces of subsidiary legislation have come into effect, starting from the 2016 LegCo general election, the subsidy rate of financial assistance for candidates of LegCo elections would be increased from $12 per vote to $14 per vote, while the EELs for geographical constituencies (GCs) and functional constituencies (FCs) would be increased to the following amounts:
GCs EELs
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(a) Hong Kong Island $2,428,000
(b) Kowloon East $1,821,000
(c) Kowloon West $1,821,000
(d) New Territories East $3,035,000
(e) New Territories West $3,035,000
FCs EELs
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(f) Heung Yee Kuk, $121,000
Agriculture and Fisheries,
Insurance, and Transport FCs
(g) Traditional FCs other than
those in (f) above
(i) Traditional FCs with $194,000
not more than 5 000
registered electors
(ii) Traditional FCs with $388,000
5 001 to 10 000
registered electors
(iii) Traditional FCs with over $583,000
10 000 registered electors
(h) District Council (second) FC $6,936,000
"The upward adjustment of the subsidy rate is based on the estimated cumulative inflation rate from 2013 to 2016 (i.e. 15.6 per cent). The EEL adjustments also took into account the estimated cumulative inflation rate over the same period, the declared election expenses of the contested candidates in the last LegCo general election, as well as other relevant considerations," the spokesman said.
The two pieces of subsidiary legislation implementing the said adjustments will be tabled at the Legislative Council on November 18, 2015 for negative vetting.
Ends/Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:00
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