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After verifying earlier reports on the granting of approval to Dynamic Islands to conduct the exit poll in the Islands District Council Tung Chung North Constituency by-election to be held this Sunday, the Registration and Electoral Office (REO)issued the following statement today (April 25):
Press reports on April 24 alleging that the person responsible for the Dynamic Islands' exit poll and its interviewers were members of an organisation that participated in the by-election have given rise to public concern. As members of the public may have doubts and worries over the case, impacting unnecessarily on the election, the REO issued a letter to the person responsible for the Dynamic Islands' exit poll yesterday to request information and proof to ascertain the facts.
The REO had not received any information from Dynamic Islands up till the deadline for reply at 3pm today. In order to avoid doubts and worries among the public derived from the belief that the exit poll to be conducted by Dynamic Islands may be unfair with regard to the by-election, impacting unnecessarily on the integrity of the entire election, the REO has decided to revoke the approval granted to Dynamic Islands to conduct exit poll on the polling day.
Chapter 14 of the Guidelines on Election-related Activities in respect of the District Council Election sets out guidelines for the conduct of exit polls to ensure that elections are conducted honestly and fairly. As far as the by-election to be held this Sunday is concerned, the organisation in its submission of application for conduct of an exit poll is required to sign a declaration to confirm that the organisation has no member contesting in the by-election, and has not publicly expressed support for any candidate contesting in the by-election.
The organisation is also required to sign an undertaking to abide by the terms governing the conduct of an exit poll in the Guidelines on Election-related Activities in respect of the District Council Election, which includes refraining from announcing the results of exit polls or making specific remarks or predictions on the performance of individual candidates before the close of the poll, or announcing the results of exit polls to any candidate, person or organisation which has publicly expressed support for any candidate, or any organisation which has a member contesting in the by-election. The above-mentioned rules aim to ensure that there would be no unfair interference with the election process
A notice showing the persons or organisations allowed to conduct the exit poll together with their contact telephone numbers will be released prior to the polling day for the reference of the public and candidates. The notice will also be displayed at the respective polling stations for public scrutiny.
Ends/Friday, April 25, 2014
Issued at HKT 21:23
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