Subsidy rate of financial assistance for candidates and election expenses limits for LegCo election
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The Chief Executive in Council has on February 11, 2020, made the Legislative Council Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 5) Order 2020 in accordance with section 83A of the Legislative Council Ordinance (Cap. 542) to increase the subsidy rate of the financial assistance for candidates of Legislative Council (LegCo) elections and also the Maximum Amount of Election Expenses (Legislative Council Election) (Amendment) Regulation 2020 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 will be published in the Gazette on February 21.
A government spokesman said today (February 19) that after the above pieces of subsidiary legislation have come into effect, starting from the 2020 LegCo General Election, the subsidy rate of financial assistance for candidates of LegCo elections would be increased from $14 per vote to $15 per vote, while the EELs for geographical constituencies (GCs) and functional constituencies (FCs) would be increased to the following amounts:
| GCs | EELs | |
| (a) | Hong Kong Island | $2,661,000 |
| (b) | Kowloon East | $1,996,000 |
| (c) | Kowloon West | $1,996,000 |
| (d) | New Territories East | $3,326,000 |
| (e) | New Territories West | $3,326,000 |
| FCs | EELs | |
| (f) | Heung Yee Kuk, Agriculture and Fisheries, Insurance, and Transport FCs | $133,000 |
| (g) | Traditional FCs other than those in (f) above: | |
| (i) Traditional FCs with not more than 5 000 registered electors | $213,000 | |
| (ii) Traditional FCs with 5 001 to 10 000 registered electors | $425,000 | |
| (iii) Traditional FCs with over 10 000 registered electors | $639,000 | |
| (h) | District Council (second) FC | $7,602,000 |
"The upward adjustment of the subsidy rate is based on the estimated cumulative inflation rate from 2017 to 2020 (i.e. 9.6 per cent). The EEL adjustments also took into account the estimated cumulative inflation rate over the same period and 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 February 26 for negative vetting.
Ends/Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Issued at HKT 14:00
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