China News Agency, Hong Kong, June 18-The Hong Kong Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) issued the Guidance for the Legislative Council Elections on the 18th, which will apply to the 2020 general election of the Legislative Council held this year and subsequent legislative by-elections.
The Elections Guidelines explain the legislative provisions related to elections and formulate a code of conduct for elections in accordance with the principles of fairness and equality. The EAC stated that during the public consultation period of the proposed guidelines, the EAC received a total of about 108,000 written representations. Among them, the queuing arrangement of polling stations, the voter collection of votes and the order of counting stations have attracted much public attention.
For voters who are difficult to stand in line for a long period of time due to physical conditions, such as elders, pregnant women and people with physical disabilities, who have limited mobility, the EAC has decided to follow the general election method of last year’s District Councils. That is, the Presiding Officer will try to arrange for the elector to sit down at the polling station and wait for the ballot papers, and properly record the queuing order. When it is the elector’s turn to collect the ballot papers, he/she will be directed to collect the ballots at the relevant invoice counter.
When a voter stands in line outside the station and waits to enter the polling station, and there are no invoice counters waiting in the station, the polling station staff will hold up a sign outside the station, indicating that the identity card number belongs to the relevant English alphabet. Voters at the beginning of the letter go directly to the polling station and collect their votes at the relevant invoice counter. Depending on the actual situation in the polling station, the PRO will flexibly adjust the prefix of the ID card number responsible for the relevant invoice counter during the peak polling period, and open counters as soon as practicable to expedite the processing of queued voters .
To ensure that the counting station director’s counting work is free from any interference or intimidation, the EAC will instruct the counting station officer to suspend the counting of votes if any person is in the hall during the counting process until the order is restored until.
An EAC spokesperson said that those who intend to stand for election and other stakeholders must understand and comply with the requirements of the electoral laws to avoid falling into the wrong net. Candidates and stakeholders should refer to the good practices outlined in the election campaign guidelines to ensure that the elections can be conducted in an open, fair and honest manner. (Finish)