Govt to ensure smooth Election Committee election

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Janice Tse said on Tuesday the authorities would ensure a smooth running of the Election Committee subsector elections this year. The Election Committee, which is responsible for electing the chief executive and 40 lawmakers, will hold its subsector elections on November 22. The new term of the Election Committee begins on February 1, with members serving a five-year term. “This is the second Election Committee subsector ordinary elections since improvements were made to the electoral system,” Tse told a Legislative Council constitutional affairs panel meeting. “The SAR government and the Electoral Affairs Commission have drawn on the experience of past elections, particularly last year’s Election Committee by-election and the Legislative Council election, to prepare for various arrangements for this year’s election. “The aim is to ensure that the election is conducted in an open, honest, fair, safe, orderly, efficient and people-oriented manner.” The government said the election would continue to adopt an electronic poll register system to issue ballot papers. Herman Tse, chief electoral officer at the Registration and Electoral Office, said authorities would ensure the stability of the system and have prepared contingency arrangements. If the electronic poll register system fails, he said, the authorities would spend 15 minutes investigating the cause and study remedial measures before considering switching to printed-form registers to issue ballot papers. Edited by Edmond Fong