The Hong Kong Electoral Affairs Commission announced at predawn hours Monday that the counting of ballots in the third-term District Council election was completed as 364 candidates won in their contested constituencies.

The announcement by the Electoral Affairs Commission came at about 4:45 a.m. local time Monday (2045 GMT Sunday) as it took more than five hours to complete the ballots-counting process, which began at 22:30 (1430 GMT) Sunday immediately after the voting ended.

More than 1.14 million registered voters cast their votes in the election for the third-term District Council in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), about 70,000 more than those in the 2003 election, according to the Electoral Affairs Commission.

Hong Kong has 18 District Councils and the third-term District Councils are composed of 534 members, including 405 elected members, 102 appointed members and 27 ex-officio members.

Candidates in 41 of the 405 constituencies have been elected unopposed while the remaining 364 seats in the 18 District Councils were contested by 866 candidates.

The District Council election adopts the first-past-the post voting system, under which the candidate who receives the largest number of votes will be elected. All Hong Kong permanent residents aged 18 or above who are ordinarily residing in Hong Kong are eligible to register as electors.

The functions of district councils include advising the HKSAR government on matters affecting the well-being of the people in the district and the use of public funds allocated to the district for local public works and community activities.

Where funds are made available, a district council will also undertake environmental improvements and the promotion of recreational and cultural activities as well as community activities.

Voting began from 7:30 a.m. (2330 GMT Saturday) and ended at 22: 30 Sunday (1430 GMT Sunday) as 1.14 million voters, including HKSAR Chief Executive Donald Tsang, flocked to 480 polling stations to cast their votes.

"The polling for our third-term District Council has come to a successful ending," said HKSAR Chief Executive Donald Tsang after the voting ended, "it is a fair, open and just election under the full-scale coverage by the press and the observation by the public.

"The election shows citizens in Hong Kong have good traditions and the election system has been respected," Tsang said, "I hope the new elected District Council members to try their best in their work to help the HKSAR government build more harmonious and more beautiful communities."

The ballot counting started at 22:30 Sunday (1430 GMT Sunday) under the observation of candidates and the public. Local televisions broadcast live the results of ballots-counting for all the polling stations.

The term of office for the third term district councils will start from Jan. 1, 2008 and end on Dec. 31, 2011.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2007)