China News Service, Hong Kong, December 19th. The election of the seventh legislative council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was held on December 19.

　　According to the Hong Kong Basic Law, the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The functions and powers exercised by the Legislative Council include: enacting, amending and repealing laws in accordance with the provisions of the Hong Kong Basic Law and in accordance with statutory procedures; reviewing and approving budgets in accordance with the proposals of the SAR government; approving tax and public expenditures; listening to and debating the Chief Executive’s policy address; Ask questions about the work of the SAR government, etc.

　　The first Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was established in 1998. The term of office of members is two years, and the term of office of each subsequent term of members is four years.

As of 2016, the sixth legislative council is composed of 70 members, of which 35 members are directly elected by geographical constituencies, and 35 members are elected by functional constituencies.

　　On July 31, 2020, in view of the severe situation of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Hong Kong at that time, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam announced that she, in conjunction with the Executive Council, based on the public interest and the actual situation in Hong Kong, citing the "Emergency Regulations Ordinance", decided to remove the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region The election of the seventh Legislative Council was postponed for one year.

　　On March 11, 2021, in order to implement the principle of “patriots ruling Hong Kong” and ensure the stability and long-term practice of “one country, two systems”, the Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress voted and passed the “Decision of the National People’s Congress on Improving the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Election System” ".

The decision stipulates that 90 members of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be elected through three methods: election committee elections, functional group elections, and district direct elections.

　　According to Annex II of the Hong Kong Basic Law promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on March 30, the three ways to generate seats in the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are: 40 members elected by the Election Committee, 30 members elected by functional groups, and members directly elected by districts. 20 people.

　　The nomination period for the Legislative Council election will start on October 30, 2021 and will end on November 12, and a total of 154 people have signed up for the election.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Candidate Qualification Review Committee is responsible for reviewing and confirming the qualifications of candidates, and making decisions on whether the relevant person supports the Hong Kong Basic Law and allegiance to the statutory requirements and conditions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

As of November 19, 153 people were found to have valid qualifications, including 51 election committees, 67 functional constituencies and 35 direct election candidates.

　　On the polling day on December 19, voters of the electoral committee, functional constituencies, and district direct election constituencies all voted by secret ballot.

　　Among them, the number of votes selected by each ballot of the Election Committee is equal to the number of members to be elected, and the 40 candidates with more votes are elected.

The functional constituency election has 28 sectors, 9 sectors are elected by individual voters, and other sectors are elected by qualified body voters; among them, the labor sector is elected by 3 members and the other sectors are elected by 1 member. Congressman.

District direct elections set up 10 constituencies, and each constituency elects 2 members. The voters choose 1 candidate based on the nominated list, and the 2 candidates with more votes are elected.

　　There have been many changes in the voting procedures for this election, including that most of the polling stations covered by the wired network will use the electronic voter register system to issue ballots.

The Registration and Electoral Office has also set up port polling stations at three Hong Kong ports: Heung Yuen Wai Control Point (Liantang Port), Lo Wu Control Point (Luo Wu Control Point) and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point (Futian Port) to grant people who are closed due to the epidemic Hong Kong voters in the Mainland cast their votes.

　　The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has announced earlier that the Chief Executive in Council has designated January 1, 2022 as the start date of the seventh Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in accordance with the Legislative Council Ordinance.

11 am on January 12, 2022 is the date and time of the first meeting of the Seventh Legislative Council.

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