Elections

Section 1	Strategic Plans
Section 2	Activities Organised (A) The Electoral Information Centre (B) The Enquiry Hotline (C) The Election Homepage (D) Talks for the Public (E) Seminars for Private Building Management Organisations (F) Meetings with the Media (G) Briefings for the Candidates

4.1

The EAC fully realizes that the most effective means to ensure elections are conducted openly, honestly and fairly is to increase the transparency of all data related to the elections. Under the direction of the EAC, the REO has developed a series of strategic plans which aimed to establish an efficient and effective communication with the public, the media, electors and candidates. Substantial resources have been devoted to: (a) ensuring easy public access to data relating to the 1999 DC election; (b) applying modern information technology to enhance dissemination of data; (c) reaching out to the public to explain the data and answer enquiries related to them; (d) helping the media utilize and understand the data; and (e) helping candidates understand and comply with the law and the Guidelines.

4.2

As one means to ensure easy public access to data relating to the 1999 DC election, the REO set up an Electoral Information Centre on 10/F Guardian House on 23 November 1999. The Centre was carefully designed to provide visitors with a vibrant and stimulating environment for learning - images, photographs, videos, interactive computer games introducing the electoral system and arrangements relating to the 1999 DC election, and a touch-screen computer system by which the visitors could easily search for information about the 390 DCCs and some 500 polling stations. The Centre is open to the public from 9 am to 5 pm from Monday to Friday and from 9 am to 12 noon on Saturday. Guided tours are arranged for groups of visitors. Over 600 secondary and university students visited the Centre during the short period between its opening on 23 November 1999 and the polling day. The information displayed at the Centre would be updated to serve the 2000 LegCo Elections.

4.3

In order to disseminate information to, and answer election-related enquiries from, the public on the latest development of the 1999 DC election, an enquiry hotline was established to provide the public with the necessary information and facilitate their participation in the election process. The number of telephone lines was increased to 20 during the peak period from 1 September 1999 to 27 November 1999. On the polling day, the number of lines was further increased to 75 in order to answer enquiries from polling stations and the public. Throughout the election, a total of 50,641 enquiries, including 39,549 received on the polling day, were satisfactorily handled.

4.4

Publicity efforts could not be considered as comprehensive enough without using the modern technology of the internet. The homepage for the 1999 DC election was set up jointly by the REO and the Information Services Department ("ISD") on 2 September 1999. It is linked to other election-related homepages e.g. the homepages of the EAC and the REO. By a simple click on the computer, the public can access to virtually all information about the election - voter registration form, brief introduction and platforms of the candidates, electoral arrangements, boundary maps of the DCCs, the electoral regulations and Guidelines, press releases, speeches, the voter turnout rate and the election results, etc. They can also send e-mails to the REO to air their views on electoral matters. More than 750,000 web pages have so far been visited by members of the public. On 29 November 1999 (i.e. the day after the polling day) alone, 117,056 pages were viewed for the election result. In view of the encouraging response, a similar homepage specially for the 2000 LegCo Elections will be built.

4.5

Positive efforts were made to reach out to members of the public. Staff of the REO organised a total of eleven talks for local organisations such as family services centres, homes for the elderly, evening schools and rehabilitation centres, etc. Electoral arrangements relating to the 1999 DC election, in particular, the use of the chop for an elector to mark on the ballot paper his/her choice of candidate, were explained face to face and queries were clarified on the spot. The EAC Chairman also attended a meeting of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce on 6 September 1999 to talk on the 1999 DC election.

4.6

The EAC Chairman and a representative of the Independent Commission Against Corruption ("ICAC") attended four district seminars organised by the Home Affairs Department ("HAD") on the subject of electioneering activities in private buildings. Through a short play followed by a question and answer session, they explained to representatives of private building management organisations how electioneering activities in private buildings might be conducted in a fair and honest manner.

4.7

The media played a very important role in reporting progress of the various stages of the 1999 DC election - from the commencement of demarcation of the DCC boundaries, through the nomination of candidates, the counting of votes, to the declaration of election results - to members of the public. The EAC hosted a total of four press conferences, 15 press briefings and stand-up sessions and eight press interviews to explain the electoral arrangements. The EAC Chairman also showed up in 13 television and radio programmes to talk on the 1999 DC election.

4.8	Two kinds of briefings were organised to help candidates and their agents understand and comply with the electoral law and the Guidelines: (a) Central briefings for candidates. Two such briefings were organised for all validly nominated candidates on the third day after the close of nomination, i.e. 23 October 1999. At these briefing sessions, the EAC Chairman briefed the candidates on the EAC Guidelines. Representatives from the ICAC and the Hongkong Post were also present to talk on the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Ordinance ("CIPO") (Cap 288) and arrangements for free postage of election advertisements respectively. Over 550 candidates (representing about 69% of the total number of candidates) and 360 agents turned up at these briefing sessions. (b) District briefings for candidates and, in particular, their agents. Under the auspices of the REO, district-based briefing sessions were organised jointly with the ICAC, the Police and the HAD in each of the 18 Districts for the candidates, their agents and campaign assistants during the period from 25 to 30 October 1999. The smaller scale of these briefings provided a good opportunity for the speakers to explain, and participants to seek clarification on, election-related rules in greater detail. More than 500 candidates and their agents/campaign assistants attended these briefings.
4.9	The REO also produced and distributed to every candidate a video-tape on the Guidelines governing election-related activities for their easy reference.
4.10	The EAC believes that the above initiatives are conducive to the successful promotion of the 1999 DC election and recommends that they be continued and strengthened where necessary in the 2000 LegCo Elections.