Hong Kong – Functional constituency/Election Committee constituency electors’ eligibility to vote

     The seventh Legislative Council General Election will be held on December 19. The Legislative Council Ordinance (LCO) (Cap. 542) specifies the situations under which electors for functional constituencies (FCs) and members of the Election Committee (EC) are disqualified from voting at an election. In accordance with section 53(1)(b) of the LCO, a registered FC elector in the final register is disqualified from voting at an election of the FC if he or she has ceased to be eligible to be registered as an elector in that constituency. Meanwhile, in accordance with section 53(3A) of the LCO, a member of the Election Committee (EC) is disqualified from voting at an election for the EC constituency (ECC) if the member falls within any paragraph of section 26 of the Chief Executive Election Ordinance (Cap. 569), e.g. he or she has ceased to have a substantial connection with the subsector concerned, he or she has ceased to be registered or eligible to be registered as an elector for a geographical constituency, or he or she has resigned as a member of the EC. 

     “In line with the arrangement in previous Legislative Council Election years, after the publication of the final register of electors, if the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) receives updated membership and licensee information from the relevant umbrella organisations and licensing authorities that there are changes to certain individual and body electors’ registration qualifications which render them no longer eligible to vote in the relevant constituency, the REO will issue letters to the electors concerned and remind them that they may be disqualified from voting in the relevant constituency, and as such they should not vote in the relevant constituency at the Legislative Council General Election to be held on December 19, or else they may contravene the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance (Cap. 554),” a spokesman for the REO said today (November 26).

     If the electors who have received such letters nonetheless consider that they are still eligible to register in the relevant FC/the ECC, they could provide the REO with relevant documentary proof and information in accordance with the letters’ directions and deadline so that the REO may follow up. If such documentary proof and information has been verified to show that the electors are still eligible to be registered in the relevant constituency, the electors may then vote in the seventh Legislative Council General Election to be held on December 19.