Elections

6.1	On the polling day, 432 polling stations, including 32 special polling stations particularly designated for facilitating voting by the disabled, were open. Polling hours started at 7:30 am and ended at 10:30 pm.
6.2	On the whole, the poll proceeded smoothly albeit with some hiccups, e.g. disputes among candidates and their supporters and complaints by electors against arrangements inside polling stations. A more serious incident was that the PRO of the polling station in the South Horizons East constituency was assaulted by an elector who was angered because the PRO told him not to bring his son into the voting compartment. The PRO was hurt on his head. The Police was called in for investigation and the suspect was arrested. The case is being handled by the Police.
6.3	The turnout rate of voters was encouraging. A total of 816,503 voters turned up for the poll, representing 35.82% of the total electorate of 2,279,504 for the 314 contested DCCs. This surpassed the 33.1% of the 1994 District Boards election. A breakdown of the voter turnout by constituency is shown at Appendix III.