Elections

Section 1	The Scope of the Review
Section 2	Review & Recommendations : Matters relating to the Preparation for the Polling Day (A) Protection of Privacy of Personal Data (B) Electors: Change of Address (C) Delineation of Constituency Areas (D) Nominations Advisory Committees (E) Nomination of Candidates (F) Public Relations Activities (G) Mock Counting (H) Election Advertisements (I) Poll Cards for Electors in Uncontested Constituencies
Section 3	Review & Recommendations : Matters relating to Operation on the Polling Day (A) Polling Stations (B) No Canvassing Zone and No Staying Zone (C) The Chop (D) The Count and the Counting Stations (E) The VIP Visits
Section 4	Review & Recommendation : Complaints
Section 5	Review & Recommendations : the Guidelines (A) Definition of Candidate (B) Candidates Making False Allegation of Unfair Treatment by Building Management Organisations (C) Electioneering on Private Premises (D) Definition of EA (E) Deposit of EAs with the ROs
Section 6	Recommendation to Publish the Report

9.1	The EAC has always been keen to bring the conduct of elections closer to perfection and to make things easier and more convenient for electors, candidates and enforcement authorities to follow while at the same time ensuring that the election is conducted fairly, openly and honestly.
9.2	After the DC election on 28 November 1999, the REO conducted a questionnaire survey of the views of candidates, PROs and Counting Supervisors on every aspect of the electoral arrangements. The rates of response from candidates, PROs and Counting Supervisors are respectively 22.06%, 68.75% and 77.78%. The CAB also held meetings with representatives of the ROs, REO, D of J, HAB, HAD and ISD to review various matters relating to the elections, and very helpfully provided their views to the EAC.
9.3	The matters reviewed by the EAC in this chapter cover the entire spectrum of procedures and arrangements for the conduct of elections. However, the ideas and proposals expressed in the report may need to be modified and fine-tuned in future in the light of further developments. The significant points reviewed and proposed are set out below in chronological order.

9.4	As mentioned in paragraph 2.11 of Chapter 2, the register of electors for the 1999 DC Election contained only the elector's name and address but not the identity card number and sex as the previous registers of electors did. This was to be in line with the public's expectation for protection of their personal data.
9.5	Recommendation: future registers of electors should follow suit.

9.6	A number of electors complained that although they had informed the REO of their new address, they still had to vote in the constituency of their old address. This was due to the fact that the compilation of the register of electors is governed by the DC Ordinance, which stipulates that the allocation of an elector to a constituency is to be based on his/her address as recorded in the existing FR for GCs published under the LegCo Ordinance. The statutory requirement is that the FR for GCs had to be published by 31 March 1999 and electors who failed to report their change of address for updating the FR by 1 March 1999 would have been allocated to the constituency in which their old addresses were located. The EAC is of the view that there is a need for improvement in this aspect.
9.7	Recommendation: consideration be given to publishing the FR as close to the date of an election as is practicable so as to allow the FR to be as updated as possible insofar as the addresses of the electors and thus their proper constituencies are concerned.
9.8	There were also other complaints from the electors that they had received at their residential address poll cards or other forms of election mail addressed to other electors. This had led them to suspect that votes were being planted. It turned out that most of these cases could be attributed to the outdated records of address in the register since the registered electors who had moved house did not report to the REO their change of address.
9.9	Recommendation: publicity be stepped up to remind electors of the need to report their new address to the REO promptly.

9.10

It came to the REO's knowledge that the public was not clearly aware of the statutory criteria adopted for delineating constituency areas. The REO also noted that the public consultation fora, held in the Sha Tin Town Hall, were not as well attended as expected, probably because residents of some districts, e.g. the Southern District, Yuen Long District, etc., found that Sha Tin was not a convenient place. The REO also received a complaint that electors living in a rural village had long been allocated to a DCC to which they did not belong.

9.11

Recommendations: (a) an explanatory note on the statutory criteria be included in the consultation document relating to the exercise of delineating constituency boundaries in future elections; (b) the fora for public consultation be held on a regional basis to facilitate attendance, i.e. one forum each in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon East, Kowloon West, the New Territories East and the New Territories West; and (c) in the EAC's next review of the DCC boundaries for the 2003 DC election, the EAC will consult the villagers involved as to whether they would like to remain in the DCC to which they had been allocated, or be re-allocated to a neighbouring DCC.

9.12	The NACs are considered useful in providing legal advice to the parties concerned.
9.13	Recommendation: the scheme be continued.

9.14

The arrangements are generally satisfactory. It has, however, been noted that: (a) some of the instructions for completion of the nomination form were found not entirely clear; (b) the signatures of some subscribers in one nomination form were found to be forged; and (c) the Police's vetting of criminal records to determine the validity of the nominations for candidates took quite some time in some cases and produced incorrect/indefinite results in some others.

9.15

Recommendations: (a) the form and explanatory notes relating to nomination of candidates be reviewed; (b) the question of whether a candidate should be held responsible for the authenticity of his/her subscriber's signature be considered; and (c) a review be conducted with the Police on the procedure for vetting criminal records.

9.16	The public relations activities organised for the 1999 DC election, in particular, the special homepage for the election, the district briefings for the candidates and their agents and the seminars for private building management organisations were all well received and proven to be useful.
9.17	Recommendation: the activities be continued and strengthened where necessary in the 2000 LegCo Elections.

9.18	The mock counting sessions for the district counting teams were useful in that the counting staff could gain hands-on experience of the counting process.
9.19	Recommendation: the same thing be done for future elections.

9.18

The process of identifying designated spots for display of EAs was generally well planned and conducted. There are, however, still areas for improvement, detailed as follows: (a) some central dividers and railings, on which display spots had been designated, were removed to give way to some roadwork projects in the middle of the election period, though the relevant works departments, e.g. the Highways Department, the Territory Development Department etc., had been consulted on the suitability of these spots for designation; (b) more designated spots were required; and (c) some candidates were not aware of the consultation exercise on the designation of display spots.

9.21

Recommendations: (a) the works departments concerned be requested to look into the matter and improve their co-ordination with the ROs; (b) the number of designated spots be reviewed in consultation with the ROs; and (c) prospective candidates be reminded of the availability of the chance to give their views on the exercise of designation of display spots.

9.22

It was learnt that in constituencies where the candidates were returned uncontested, some electors, not being aware of or remembering that, still went to their designated polling station on the polling day, only to find that the polling station was closed. Some went to polling stations that they passed by; though they were told that their constituency was different and uncontested, their presence increased the workload of the polling staff.

9.23

Recommendation: the official introductory leaflets in respect of uncontested constituencies be stamped with a chop bearing a conspicuous message that the recipient of the leaflets need not attend any polling station to cast his/her vote because the constituency is uncontested.

9.24

The number, distribution and location of the polling stations were generally considered appropriate. However, the size and physical set up of the stations should be reviewed to make the place more convenient and more easily accessible for the electors. There are also other areas where improvements should be made.

9.25

Recommendations: (a) places with staircases or long flight of steps be avoided from being used as polling stations as the elderly and those not enjoying good health may be inconvenienced; (b) children be allowed to go into the polling station in their parents' company so long as they do not cause disturbance or inconvenience to other electors; (c) cardboard cards, in different colours, be used as indicating signs at the issuing desks for the queues of electors, grouped according to their identity card numbers, to collect their ballot paper (care should of course be exercised to avoid certain colours which may lead the voter to associate them with the colours of political organisations); and (d) efforts be made to streamline the flow of electors within a polling station.

9.26	The arrangements were generally satisfactory. However, it was observed that control appeared to be inadequate in the cases of some polling stations.
9.27	Recommendations: (a) additional help from the Police be requested for patrolling the NCZs when information of possible canvassing or disturbance is received from complaints or other sources; and (b) the assistance of the Civil Aid Service ("CAS") be sought in keeping control in the NCZs as its members are specialised in crowd control.

9.28	The use of the chop for marking the ballot paper received favourable comments from the electors. It was considered a uniform and more convenient means than the use of a pen. It also speeded up the process of determination of the validity of ballot papers. Some electors, however, were not aware that the cap of the chop should first be removed before applying the chop onto the ballot paper.
9.29	Recommendations: (a) the chop be used for future elections; and (b) polling staff be reminded in briefings for future elections to remove the caps of the chops before giving them to electors.

9.30

The transportation of ballot boxes from the polling stations to the counting stations, opening of the ballot boxes, the counting process and compilation of counting statistics were found generally satisfactory. There was, however, still room for improvement in order to enhance the operation of, and to speed up, the counting process.

9.31

Recommendations: (a) larger venues be identified and used; (b) for districts with an expected larger number of votes, consideration be given to appropriately increasing the number of counting staff; (c) consideration be given to using the counting machine for verifying the ballot paper accounts; (d) arrangements for receiving the ballot boxes at the reception counter in the counting station be reviewed in consultation with the ROs; and (e) consideration be given to conducting the count for the coming LegCo Elections either by setting up one regional counting station for each of the five GCs and one central counting station for the functional constituencies and the Election Committee, or by arranging for all GC ballot papers to be counted at each polling station (which will be converted into a counting station after the close of poll) while the functional constituency and Election Committee ballot papers be counted in a central counting station.

9.32	The visits by the EAC members and senior government officials to polling stations were well covered by the media.
9.33	Recommendation: the arrangements be continued in order to give wide publicity to remind electors to vote on polling day.

9.34

Complaints received were dealt with in a fair and expeditious manner, and the complaint handling procedure worked effectively. As mentioned in paragraph 8.8 of Chapter 8, the processing procedure was modified in the latter half of the election period in that each VG individually handled the complaints with which it was tasked. There was no need for the entire CC to meet and discuss the complaint cases unless directed by a particular VG. The Chairman of the CC, however, was to peruse all complaint cases - those assigned to his own VG or to other VGs - in order to maintain consistency in dealing with all complaints.

9.35

Recommendation: the modified procedure be adopted for future elections.

9.36

The Guidelines provided guidance for all parties involved in election-related matters. They have to be kept under constant review in the light of operational experience and complaints. The EAC has conducted a full-scale review of the Guidelines after the 1999 DC election and has recommended a number of changes to the Guidelines with a view to plugging loopholes and drawing up clearer parameters to avoid misinterpretations, be they genuine or otherwise.

9.37

A candidate argued that he was not a candidate until he submitted his nomination and therefore he was not subject to the guideline that programme hosts should not continue with their occupation as such after the commencement of the nomination period.

9.38

Recommendations: in the Chapter concerning the media, it will be spelt out clearly that a candidate includes a person who has publicly declared his/her intention to stand for election. The attention of the broadcasters and the printed media will be drawn to this definition. They are also to be advised that in the event that they have any person in mind to conduct an interview with, they should first clarify with the interviewee his intention in this aspect.

9.39

There were complaint cases about candidates making false allegation of unfair treatment by organisations having control of the common parts of private buildings. This conduct of candidates is at present not expressly prohibited by any guidelines or electoral law or regulation. Such organisations complained to the EAC about the annoyance caused by such allegations by candidates, but without any apparent remedy.

9.40

Recommendation: if it is proven that a candidate has made false, unfounded or unreasonable allegations that they have been unfairly treated by building management organisations, he/she may be warned, reprimanded or censured by the EAC.

9.41

A number of complaints received were lodged by candidates against building management organisations and vice versa. There is a need to clarify the grey areas and to introduce new arrangements to iron out the difficulties encountered.

9.42

Recommendations: (a) candidates should be advised: (i) to make enquiries with the management of the building concerned before conducting their electioneering activities inside the building; and (ii) not to assume that the building management organisation has no objection to their conduct of electioneering activities on its premises in the absence of any explicit indication; (b) new arrangements are to be made with the Housing Department ("HD") and the Housing Society to avoid conflicts arising from two or more candidates applying for permission to hold election meetings at the same time and at the same venue in a public housing estate; (c) if a building has any spaces in the common areas to let to candidates for them to display EAs or conduct other electioneering activity, the building shall ensure that such spaces are equally available for letting to all the candidates contesting the same constituency, and give reasonable notice to all such candidates accordingly; and (d) if a decision to disallow electioneering in a building has been made, no activity promoting any candidate including household visit should be conducted in the building by any candidate or his followers even though such activity is carried out not in their respective capacity of candidate and followers.

9.43

The EAC noted that some candidates issued a great number of publicity materials containing their name and photograph during the election period e.g. opinion survey questionnaires, posters publicising functions such as group tours or vegetarian feasts, offer of free legal or medical or other professional services, etc. Although the contents of these publicity materials were not election-related, they did help enhance the image of the candidate and promote his candidature.

9.44

Recommendation: while this is a matter of statutory definition in the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Bill, it is nevertheless conducive to a fair election if the Guidelines could indicate that EAs also include the types of publicity materials mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

9.45

Some candidates continuously displayed EAs on private premises or non-designated spots on public land without the necessary authorization, on the pretext that they would deposit the authorization within the seven days prescribed in the regulation. This showed that the relaxation to allow candidates to deposit copies of EAs and authorization to the RO within seven days after display did not work satisfactorily.

9.46

Recommendation: the Guidelines and the EAC regulation be amended to require deposit of copies of EAs and authorization before display. This would enable ROs to immediately remove any EA failing to meet any such requirement.

9.47

The EAC Ordinance requires the EAC to submit this report to the Chief Executive but does not make any provision for the report to be released to the public. The EAC would recommend that this report should go public, at a time the Chief Executive thinks fit, so that there will be full transparency of how the EAC has performed its functions under the EAC Ordinance.