Electors urged to vote in Legislative Council General Election today (with photo)
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The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah, called on registered electors to cast their votes in the 2016 Legislative Council General Election today (September 4).
"Voting is very simple. It just takes a few minutes to vote. I appeal to electors to exercise their civic rights and cast their votes as early as possible," Mr Justice Fung said after visiting the polling station at Quarry Bay Community Hall this morning.
"Under the 'one-person-two-votes' arrangement, of the about 3,780,000 registered geographical constituency electors, about 3,470,000 electors can cast one vote each in their respective geographical constituency (GC) and the District Council (second) functional constituency. About 230,000 electors of the 18 contested functional constituencies (FC) can vote in their respective traditional FCs," he said.
"The GC and District Council (second) functional constituency ballot papers will be pre-folded inward once along the dotted line by the polling staff at the ballot paper issuing desk before they are issued to electors. Electors must use the chop provided by the polling stations to stamp the ballot papers with a 'tick' in the circle opposite the chosen candidate list, and fold the ballot papers inward once along the dotted line to conceal the mark and then put them into the ballot boxes," he added.
The GC ballot paper whose pattern on the back is blue should be put into the blue ballot box and the District Council (second) functional constituency ballot paper whose back is mainly white should be put into the white ballot box. The ballot papers of the traditional FCs should be put into the red ballot box.
"Electors are reminded to bring their identity document to the designated polling station specified on their poll card. Electors can log in to the Online Voter Information Enquiry System (www.voterinfo.gov.hk) if they have not yet received their poll card to check whether they are registered electors and their designated polling station. They can also call the election hotline 2891 1001 for enquiries," Mr Justice Fung said.
A total of 571 ordinary polling stations and 24 dedicated polling stations across Hong Kong are open today for electors to cast their votes.
The ordinary polling stations and the three dedicated polling station set up at police stations are open to electors from 7.30am to 10.30pm. For security reasons, the 21 dedicated polling stations set up in penal institutions are open from 9am to 4pm.
As at 10.30am, 269,046 GC electors have voted, bringing the cumulative turnout rate to 7.12 %. Among them, 244,604 are also electors of the District Council (second) functional constituency, representing 7.04% of the electorate of the sector. About 19,812 electors of the other FCs have cast their votes. The cumulative turnout rate of the FCs is 8.52%.
Mr Justice Fung and Commission members Mr Arthur Luk, SC, and Professor Fanny Cheung, will inspect the polling stations today to see for themselves how electoral activities are being conducted.
The election hotline at 2891 1001 will be in service until 11pm to answer enquiries relating to the election.
A complaints hotline at 2827 7251 will operate until 11pm to handle complaints about breaches of electoral rules and guidelines.
Hourly voter turnout and election results will be available on the election website (www.elections.gov.hk).
Ends/Sunday, September 4, 2016
Issued at HKT 12:53
Issued at HKT 12:53
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