The Candidate Eligibility Review Committee (CERC) declared by notice in the Gazette today (October 22) the names of seven Election Committee (EC) ex-officio members who were determined to be validly registered.
In accordance with section 5J of the Schedule to the Chief Executive Election Ordinance (Cap. 569) (the Ordinance), the holder of a specified office under the Ordinance (specified person) may register as an ex-officio member of the EC. The seven EC ex-officio membership registrations which have been validated by the CERC this time had arisen from changes in the post holder of the specified offices-concerned, where the new post holders had submitted fresh applications for registration as EC ex-officio members.
The seven specified offices involved are: the office specified by Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong (education subsector); the Chairman of the Supplementary Medical Professions Council (medical and health services subsector); the Chairman of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (medical and health services subsector); the Commissioner of the Auxiliary Medical Service (medical and health services subsector); the Chairman of the Community Involvement Committee on Greening (architectural, surveying, planning and landscape subsector); the Chairman of the Consulting Engineers' Committee (engineering subsector), and the Chairman of the Building Contractors Committee (engineering subsector).
In accordance with section 5J(3) of the Schedule to the Ordinance, if a specified person is not eligible to be registered as an ex-officio member (e.g. the specified person is a holder of more than one specified office, or the specified person is a directorate officer of the Government), he/she may designate another person who is holding an office in a relevant body in relation to the specified office to be registered as an ex-officio member. Regarding the seven specified offices mentioned above, the Director of Health is the Chairman of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board as well as the Commissioner of the Auxiliary Medical Service; while the Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) is the Chairperson of the Community Involvement Committee on Greening, Consulting Engineers' Committee and Building Contractors Committee. As the Director of Health and the Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) are not eligible to be registered as ex-officio members, they have respectively designated another person holding an office in the relevant bodies to be registered as an ex-officio member.
The CERC is chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr John Lee Ka-chiu, with three official members (the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Erick Tsang Kwok-wai; the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Caspar Tsui Ying-wai; and the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung) and three non-official members (Miss Elsie Leung Oi-sie, Mrs Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai and Professor Lawrence Lau Juen-yee). Pursuant to Annex I of the Basic Law, the CERC is responsible for reviewing and confirming the eligibility of candidates for EC membership (including ex-officio members), and determining whether a candidate complies with the legal requirements and conditions for upholding the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and bearing allegiance to the HKSAR of the People's Republic of China.
Follow this news feed: East Asia