Free legal advice for prospective candidates of LegCo election

Any persons intending to run in the Election Committee subsector election in July and the Legislative Council general election in September may apply for free legal advice from now if they are not sure whether they are qualified as a candidate.

Two Senior Counsel, Mr Lawrence Lok Ying-kam and Mr Wong Ching-yue, barrister Mr Ho Bing-kwan, two solicitors, Mr Peter Lo Chi-lik and Mr Anson Kan Kam-choy, are each appointed a Nominations Advisory Committee to provide this service.

The Gazette announced on February 11 their appointments by the Electoral Affairs Commission for the period from February 11 to August 4.

"In previous elections prospective candidates found this service a useful means to ascertain their position well before they made efforts to plan and conduct their campaign," a spokesman for the Electoral Affairs Commission said.

Applications must be made in a specified form and sent to the Chief Electoral Officer, 14th floor, Guardian House, 32 Oi Kwan Road, Wan Chai, in person, by post or by fax (no. 2893 7535).

The deadline for applications is one day before the nomination period starts.

The nomination period for the Election Committee subsector election will run from May 31 to June 7. Nominations for the Legislative Council general election will be called between July 20 to August 2.

Application forms are available at any District Offices, and the Registration and Electoral Office on the 14th floor, Guardian House, 32 Oi Kwan Road, Wan Chai, and on the 10th floor, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai. Enquiries may be made on 2891 1001.

The free legal service is made available not only to prospective candidates, but also to prospective nominees and designated bodies of the Religious subsector, which is to nominate 40 members to join the Election Committee. Returning Officers responsible for determining the validity of nominations may seek advice from the Nominations Advisory Committees too.

In the general election on September 10, 24 members will be returned by geographical constituencies; 30 by functional constituencies and six by the 800-member Election Committee. The majority of the Election Committee members will be returned by the subsector election on July 9.