National security offenders to be disqualified from Hong Kong's Legco elections

The Star

2 days ago

Hong Kong authorities have proposed disqualifying anyone convicted of offences endangering national security from being nominated to run in a Legislative Council election or serving as a lawmaker.
The Electoral Affairs Commission said a public consultation for the proposed guidelines, which include several changes related to national security, was launched on Thursday and would wrap up on August 1.
The proposals were shared months before the next Legco election on December 7, the second to be held since the process was overhauled to follow a 'patriots only' system.
The changes include the disqualification of anyone convicted of offences that endanger national security from being nominated or elected as a lawmaker, in adherence to the city's existing national security legislation.
Members of the Election Committee who are convicted of the same offences are also barred from voting in the polls for the Election Committee constituency.
Election candidates will also be prohibited from sending by mail any publications that constitute a national security risk.
'In relation to national security, we only reflect what has been reflected in the relevant legislation,' commission chairman David Lok Kai-hong said.
'So, if there is any amendment because of a change in the national security [laws], it also has corresponding changes in our election law as well as in relation to the qualification of a person running for the seat or [being] qualified to be a councillor.
'So in such a case, I don't think we have made any substantial changes.'
Asked if the proposed guidelines covered national security offenders who had completed their sentences, Lok only said that the laws had been written very clearly and urged the public to look at the terms of the relevant legislation.
The Registration and Electoral Office, meanwhile, discussed promotional efforts for the coming election and said they would be widespread and take reference from the 2023 district council poll.
'We hope to be able to raise the election atmosphere; we are currently going through the preparation work,' said Natalie Chan, the body's chief electoral officer.
In a paper submitted to Legco's Finance Committee in April, the government said it planned to spend HK$1.28 billion (US$163 million) on the coming election.
Authorities aimed to allocate HK$177 million for promotional efforts, HK$814 million for technological appliances and voting venues' rents and HK$289 million for paying an expected 37,000 personnel, according to the paper.
The planned budget represents a 52 per cent increase from the HK$841 million spent on the 2021 Legco election, which had a turnout of only 30.2 per cent – the lowest since the city's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
Chan added that authorities had completed their purchase of electronic vote-counting machines for the Legco functional constituency election, with the cost expected to be about HK$160 million.
She said the high cost accounted for hiring service contractors to design the system, software, hardware and support services.
Authorities also needed a large amount of vote-counting equipment, as the poll would involve about 200,000 voters, while the sum included expenses for on-site support staff to tackle any potential equipment issues during the vote count, she said.
But Lok said authorities had yet to decide on whether they would use the machines for the constituency poll, noting the decision would depend on further testing. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST