Voting for the contested by- elections of nine Election
Committee (EC) subsectors ended at 10:30 PM in Hong Kong
Sunday.
According to a government press release Sunday night, the
overall turnout only reached 14.95 percent by 10:30 PM.
A total of 39 polling stations across Hong Kong were open from
7:30 AM to 10:30 PM Sunday for some 47,000 registered voters to
cast their votes in the contested by-elections of nine EC
subsectors.
By-elections were held to fill vacancies in the Election
Committee, which will elect a new Chief Executive on July 10.
Forty candidates ran for the 15 seats in the nine contested
subsectors -- Textiles and Garment, Accountancy, Architectural,
Surveying and Planning, Chinese Medicine, Engineering, Higher
Education, Legal, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Hong Kong and
Kowloon District Councils.
Twelve candidates have been elected unopposed in the remaining
seven subsectors, which are Finance, Import and Export, Industrial
(First), Industrial (Second), Labor, Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference, and Heung Yee Kuk.
Six more vacancies in the Religious Subsector have been filled
by supplementary nominations.
The final results of the by-election is expected to be announced
Monday.
Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) Justice Woo
Kwok-hing called on voters concerned to go to the polls as early as
possible Sunday morning.
The commission has also set up a complaint hotline to receive
public complaints on breaches of electoral guidelines. Its service
hours would extend until the close of polls at 10:30 PM.
(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2005)