Nominations for LegCo seats due to start on July 20

The second stage of the Legislative Council elections is due to begin on July 20 when nominations for 60 Legislative Council seats open, the Government Gazette announced on Friday, June 23.

The general election will be held on Sunday, September 10 to return 60 Legislative Council members: 24 members will be returned by five geographical constituencies, 30 members by 28 functional constituencies and six members by the Election Committee. The majority of the Election Committee members will be returned in the first stage of the elections scheduled for July 9.

The Electoral Affairs Commission has appointed 26 Returning Officers and 54 Assistant Returning Officers, who are District Officers and officials from various bureaus and departments, to deal with nominations and various electoral duties. A notice on the appointments was gazetted on June 23.

Any registered geographical constituency elector aged 21 or above who has ordinarily lived in Hong Kong for the three years immediately before the nomination, and who is a Chinese citizen with no right of abode in a foreign country, is qualified to run for a seat in the geographical constituency or the Election Committee election.

To be eligible to run for a functional constituency seat, the person must also satisfy the requirement of being a registered elector for a functional constituency or having a substantial connection with a functional constituency. But candidature in 12 functional constituencies is open to Hong Kong permanent residents who are not of Chinese nationality or who have the right of abode in a foreign country.

These 12 functional constituencies are: namely legal; accountancy; engineering; architectural, surveying and planning; real estate and construction; tourism; commercial (first); industrial (first); finance; financial services; import and export, and insurance.

Nomination forms are now available at any District Offices, the relevant Returning Officer's office, and the Registration and Electoral Office on the 10/F, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai.

A spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office said a nomination form must be handed in to the relevant Returning Officer in person by a candidate, or by one of the candidates on a geographical constituency list, before 5 pm on August 2.

For the geographical constituency election, each list of candidates needs the support of at least 100 registered electors of the constituency the list is contesting, and a deposit of $50,000 must be paid.

For the functional constituencies and the Election Committee, each nomination must be subscribed by at least 10 registered electors of the constituency concerned and a deposit of $25,000 must be paid.

The spokesman advised candidates to enlist the support of more than the required minimum number of subscribers in case some of the subscribers may be found not qualified.

Enquiries about the nomination procedure may be made on the election hotline, 2891 1001. Members of the public are welcome to visit the website, www.eac.gov.hk, for more information about the elections.

Friday, June 23, 2000