A total of 69,230 registered electors voted in the Legislative Council Kowloon West geographical constituency by-election as at 12.30pm today (November 25), representing an accumulative turnout rate of 14.21%.
The voter turnout figures are for temporary reference only.
The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah, called on registered electors of the Kowloon West geographical constituency to vote in the Legislative Council Kowloon West geographical constituency by-election today (November 25).
"Voting is very simple. It just takes a few minutes to vote. I appeal to electors to exercise their civic rights and vote as early as possible," Mr Justice Fung said after visiting the polling station at TWGHs Lo Yu Chik Primary School this morning.
"Electors must carry the original of their Hong Kong identity card or other specified alternative documents to the designated polling station to collect their ballot papers to cast votes. Electors may only cast their votes at the designated polling station as specified on their poll card. Electors can log in to the Online Voter Information Enquiry System (OVIES) (www.voterinfo.gov.hk) if they have not yet received their poll card to check whether they are registered electors of the Kowloon West geographical constituency and their designated polling station. They can also call the election hotline 2891 1001 for enquiries."
A total of 73 ordinary polling stations in the Kowloon West geographical constituency and 19 dedicated polling stations are open today for about 490 000 electors of the Kowloon West geographical constituency listed on the 2018 Final Register to cast their votes. The polling hours for the ordinary polling stations and the dedicated polling station set up at Cheung Sha Wan Police Station will be from 7.30am to 10.30pm. For the dedicated polling stations set up at penal institutions, for security reasons, the polling hours will be from 9am to 4pm.
As at 10.30am, 32 204 electors have voted, bringing the cumulative turnout rate to 6.61 per cent.
Mr Justice Fung and Commission members Mr Arthur Luk, SC, and Professor Fanny Cheung, will visit various polling stations today to observe the electoral activities.
The election hotline at 2891 1001 will be in service until 11pm to answer enquiries relating to the by-election.
A complaints hotline at 2827 7251 will operate until 11pm to handle complaints about breaches of electoral rules and guidelines.
Once the poll closes, all ordinary polling stations will be converted into counting stations for counting of votes. The counting stations will be open to the public once the conversion has been completed. Members of the public will be able to watch the counting process at designated areas inside the counting stations.
A media centre will be set up at the Tiu Keng Leng Sports Centre, 2 Chui Ling Road, Tseung Kwan O, where the election result will be announced by the Returning Officer. A public gallery will be set up for members of the public to watch the announcement of result at the media centre. In view of the limited seating capacity, admission to the public gallery will be arranged on a first come, first served basis from 11pm. To facilitate admission control, members of the public admitted to the venue will be required to wear a wristband provided by the Registration and Electoral Office for identification purpose. Public enquiries about the venue arrangement can be made at 3904 0290, which will operate from 10pm to the announcement of the election result.
Hourly voter turnout and election result will be available on the election website (www.elections.gov.hk).
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, on the analysis of the poverty situation in Hong Kong in 2017 after attending a radio programme this morning (November 25):
Reporter: Secretary, there are calls to review how poverty is calculated, for example by taking into account the household expenditure. Do you think it would be a more accurate indicator on poverty? Also, would you say no matter how hard the Government tries, it can never eradicate poverty in Hong Kong? Thank you.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: Let me answer the latter part first. As we are using the idea of "relative poverty" (in setting the "poverty line"), it would be almost impossible to eradicate poverty under the "relative poverty" concept. If you are rich while I am less rich than you are, I am relatively poorer than you are. So, somehow in terms of "relative poverty", it would be almost impossible (to eradicate poverty). Particularly under a market economy (in Hong Kong), that would be impossible.
Going back to the question on how we work on the "poverty line", particularly with respect to the idea of including some (household) expenditure as a way of looking at it. Every five years, the Government has an (household) expenditure survey. The next survey will start next year, 2019, and end in the middle of 2020. So, we would have some data by the end of 2020 to look at how expenditure affects the livelihood (of households) and see how we can incorporate such data to look at the poverty situation. We don't have year-to-year data for expenditure, but the expenditure survey to be done every five years will give us some hints to understand it. That is what we can do.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
A total of 50,874 registered electors voted in the Legislative Council Kowloon West geographical constituency by-election as at 11.30am today (November 25), representing an accumulative turnout rate of 10.44%.
The voter turnout figures are for temporary reference only.
The 2018 Mainland Higher Education Expo, jointly organised by the Ministry of Education and the Education Bureau (EDB), will be held on December 1 and 2 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wanchai. The Expo will enable students aspiring to pursue further studies on the Mainland to gain a better understanding of the Scheme for Admission of Hong Kong Students to Mainland Higher Education Institutions (Admission Scheme) in 2019, and also provides information on the participating institutions and their programmes.
There are 110 Mainland higher education institutions participating in the 2019 Admission Scheme, of which 108 institutions will set up exhibition booths and organise talks to provide information on aspects such as faculties and subjects, admission criteria, and the number of places and tuition fees. During the event, there will be talks by representatives of the Ministry of Education on details of the application procedures and admission arrangements under the Admission Scheme.
There will also be briefing sessions conducted by representatives from the institutions on the characteristics and career prospects of individual programmes. Some Hong Kong graduates from Mainland institutions will talk about their study life on the Mainland at sharing sessions. In addition, representatives from the education and business sectors will give talks on the career prospects of students after their graduation from Mainland higher education institutions.
The EDB and the Hok Yau Club have jointly compiled the "Handbook on the Scheme for the Admission of Hong Kong Students to Mainland Higher Education Institutions". The handbook provides comprehensive information on the scheme and further study on the Mainland and will be distributed free of charge at the Expo.
The Expo will be open to the public on December 1 (Saturday) from 10am to 7pm and on December 2 (Sunday) from 10am to 6pm at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wanchai. Admission is free.