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The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Pang Kin-kee, called on voters to cast their votes at the Election Committee (EC) Subsector Elections today (December 10).
He made the appeal during his stopover at Leighton Hill Community Hall earlier this morning while touring around polling stations in different parts of Hong Kong.
One hundred and ten polling stations across Hong Kong will be open until 10.30pm today for about 204,000 registered voters in the contested subsectors/sub-subsector to cast their votes. As at 9.30am, 2,807 voters have turned up to cast their votes, bringing the cumulative turnout rate to 1.37%, compared with the 1% cumulative turnout rate recorded for the same hour in the 2000 polls.
"Voters who do not have a poll card in hand may call 2891 1001 to enquire about the polling stations they should visit," Mr Justice Pang said.
He reminded voters again that they should follow the proper procedures when voting.
"A voter should shade the ovals opposite the names of his chosen candidates on the ballot paper with the pen provided at the polling station, and vote for no more than the prescribed number of seats in the relevant subsector. He should put the marked ballot paper into the envelope before dropping it into the ballot box," Mr Justice Pang said.
"Please do not fold the ballot paper and the envelope," he said.
Mr Justice Pang reminded voters not to use mobile phones or pagers, take photographs, or do filming and video or audio recording inside polling stations, so as to protect the secrecy of votes. These are offences punishable by fines and imprisonment.
A total of 803 candidates are competing for 427 seats in 23 contested subsectors/sub-subsector at today's polls. A list of the contested subsectors/sub-subsector can be found in the attachment.
Hourly voter turnouts and election results can be found at www.elections.gov.hk.
Complaints about the polls can be made to the hotline 2827 7251.
Ends/Sunday, December 10, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:41
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