The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Election restructuring|The government proposes to revise the 8-person limit of the Qualification Examination Board, the election committee can nominate 5 candidates

2021-05-03T14:44:01.390Z


The Legislative Council's Bills Committee on Improving the Electoral System (Comprehensive Amendments) Bill 2021 convened today (30th) to consider various amendments proposed by the government. The government has proposed amendments in many areas, among which the candidates


Political situation

Written by: Peng Zhuowei

2021-04-30 13:25

Last update date: 2021-04-30 13:26

The Legislative Council's Bills Committee on Improving the Electoral System (Comprehensive Amendments) Bill 2021 convened today (30th) to consider various amendments proposed by the government.

The government has proposed amendments in a number of areas, including amendments to the composition and powers of the Candidate Qualification Review Committee, increasing the maximum number of members from 5 to 8, and the chief executive must appoint 1 to 3 non-official members at the same time , One of the official members serves as the chairman, and specified that no litigation should be filed against the decision made by the Council.

The Bills Committee had previously urged the number of nominations for the election committee in the Legislative Council elections. The government proposed an amendment to specify that the election committee can nominate candidates with different capacities, including direct elections in districts as electors and directly elected voters. The maximum can be submitted 5 nomination forms.

The prescribing committee decides not to initiate litigation

The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Zeng Guowei, briefed the meeting on a number of amendments proposed by the government.

With regard to strengthening the powers and composition of the Qualifications Commission, the authorities recommend that the maximum number of members of the Qualification Commission be increased from 5 to 8. In addition to appointing the chairman and two to four official members, the chief executive must appoint one to three non-official members at the same time. Shou members.



Yang Leshi, Chief Assistant Secretary of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, explained that one of the official members of the Council will serve as the chairman.

Regarding the division of labor between the Qualifications Examination Board and the Returning Officer, the authorities recommend that the Qualifications Examination Board be responsible for publishing a valid nomination notice in the Gazette. If a validly nominated candidate is disqualified before the polling day, the Qualification Examination Board shall also be responsible for A notice about "DQ" was published in the Gazette.

According to Lu Weiguo, chairman of the Pakatan Rakyat and engineering member, the government has made the division of labor clearer regarding the amendments to the Qualifications Examination Committee. He asked whether the Qualifications Evaluation Committee will set up a secretariat to assist in the qualification review.

Tang Renguang, Permanent Secretary of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, pointed out that relevant proposals are being studied within the government.

The government proposes an amendment to stipulate that the Election Commissioner can submit up to five nomination forms in the Legislative Council election. Taking district direct elections as an example, the Election Commissioner can nominate a candidate in any geographical constituency as an elector in its geographical constituency. His local constituency nominates another candidate.

Ye Liu said frankly that he did not know why the election committee could nominate five votes

Xie Weijun and the Pakatan Harapan Liang Meifen had earlier refuted the fire on the committee regarding the number of nomination committees.

The government proposed an amendment in this regard, stipulating that the Election Commissioner can submit up to five nomination forms in the Legislative Council election. Taking district direct elections as an example, the Election Commissioner can nominate a candidate in any geographical constituency as an elector in his geographical constituency. Nominate another candidate in his local constituency.



New Democrat Party Chairman Ye Liu Shuyi said frankly that he did not understand the rationale for the electoral committee to receive up to five nominating votes. If 1,500 electoral committees can nominate 5 votes, does it mean that the electoral committee can nominate more than 7,000 people in the Legislative Council election.

Tang Renguang responded that when the authorities made the relevant amendments, they had learned from the Central Government the original intention of drafting Annex 1 and Annex 2 of the Basic Law.

Huang Guojian from the Federation of Trade Unions praised the government for its good deeds.

The penalty imposed by the refusal office increased to 50,000 yuan

According to the original bill, the Chief Electoral Officer may require the owners or occupiers of any target premises (i.e. schools and institutions receiving government funding) to provide polling stations or counting stations for that premises. If the occupiers or owners fail to comply with the regulations, The occupier or owner may be required to pay a fixed fine of 10,000 yuan.

The authorities proposed amendments to the fines, saying that in response to members' claims that the fine of 10,000 yuan was insufficient to deter, the fine was proposed to be increased to 50,000 yuan.

Xie Weijun is concerned about the procedures for recovering fines. He is worried that the current method of recovery may make the ordinance a "toothless tiger". He also pointed out that Hong Kong has become a "travel capital" and many patients have been "traveled" in public hospitals. He suggested Strengthen tracking through bylaws.

Yang Leshi explained the current procedures for recovering fines, saying that the government will first issue a general payment note to the offender. If the person refuses to pay the fine, the government can pursue the claim through the Small Claims Tribunal. If either party is dissatisfied with the adjudicator's order Or to decide, you can apply to the Small Claims Tribunal for review, or apply to the Court of First Instance of the High Court for permission to appeal.

In addition, the government has taken into consideration the latest estimate of 140 voters in the catering functional constituency, and finally decided to include the catering sector as one of the functional constituencies that require priority registration.

The candidate dies before the polling day or is elected by the DQ will continue

According to the original text of the bill, once a Legislative Council candidate dies or loses his eligibility to stand for election between the end of the nomination period and the day before the election, the election process must be suspended. The relevant practice arouses the concern of the establishment, and 38 members have even issued a joint signature to the government. Letter, the government proposes to amend the final proposal, stating that if candidates who are effectively nominated for geographical constituencies and functional constituencies die or lose their qualifications after the nomination period ends but before the election polling day, the election process will not be terminated, and arrangements will be made with the electoral committee constituency Unanimous.

Mak Meijuan of the Federation of Trade Unions urged the government to require candidates to submit relevant information such as BNO or foreign nationality at the Bills Committee meeting several times earlier. The Constitutional Affairs Bureau ultimately did not accept the relevant opinions.

(Information Picture/Photo by Zhang Haowei)

Refuse to explicitly request candidates to confess foreign nationality information

The Federation of Trade Unions, Mai Meijuan, urged the government at several meetings of the Bills Committee to require candidates to submit relevant information such as BNO or foreign nationality when they stand for election.

In the end, the Constitutional Affairs Bureau did not accept the relevant opinions and proposed to maintain the current drafting method of the provisions to provide the IAAC with the greatest flexibility and allow the IAAC to request any information from candidates.

The government has also amended the provisions of the "Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance" concerning the prohibition of incitement to vote invalid or non-voting. Some Members suggested that the authorities clearly define the incitement of inciting acts to manipulate and destroy elections.

The Constitutional Bureau refused to propose an amendment to this, saying that it is necessary to prove that a person who used public activities to incite another person not to vote or cast an invalid vote, and has the intention of "manipulating and sabotaging the election", will face great difficulty in actual law enforcement. It may indirectly prevent the government from effectively regulating election activities in accordance with Annexes 1 and 2 of the revised Basic Law, so the provisions will not be revised accordingly.

Election restructuring|Lam Cheng personally went to battle with the election committee. The program will be broadcast on Hong Kong and Taiwan TV from Wednesday evening

Election restructuring | Bills Committee completes item-by-item review Xie Weijun urges tightening of access to voter registers

Electoral restructuring|Tang Jiahua appeals to democrats not to regard the nomination as a humiliation, claiming to have at least 15 seats

Election restructuring|Deng Renguang: The voting station has no physical machine to store voter information. The electronic ticket dispatching machine is only for verification

Election restructuring|Can Members of the Legislative Council nominate themselves?

Liang Junyan said that party members can nominate each other

Election restructuring|Hu Dingxu: Pan-Democrats can still speak up and willingly assist in nomination

01News

Legislative Council election

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2021-05-03

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.