The Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Ordinance 2021 has been published in the Gazette and came into effect on May 31. Under the Ordinance, there are major changes to the composition of the Election Committee (EC), EC subsectors (ECSSs) and Legislative Council functional constituencies (FCs). The Registration and Electoral Office (REO) today (June 7) appealed to (i) individuals eligible to register as ex-officio members of the EC, (ii) individuals and bodies eligible to register as ECSS voters (whether they are currently registered or not) under the Ordinance, and (iii) individuals and bodies whose eligibility is affected by the Ordinance and those who are newly eligible for registration in FCs (the aforesaid (i), (ii) and (iii) are collectively referred to as eligible persons) to submit voter registration (VR) applications as soon as possible and no later than the special VR deadline of July 5 so that their registration particulars can be included in the 2021 final registers of voters/electors. The Electoral Affairs Commission has prepared and uploaded the reference information on the changes to the VR eligibility to its website (www.eac.hk) for general reference.
"The special voter registration arrangement is mainly for registration or re-registration of the aforementioned eligible persons. If they have not yet registered as electors of a geographical constituency (GC), they should also complete and submit an application for a GC no later than July 5. As for currently registered GC electors, they need not submit applications again," a spokesman for the REO said.
For details of registration arrangements for ex-officio members of the EC and ECSS voters, distribution of seats and the method for the constitution of the EC, and more, please visit the following VR webpages of the REO:
Ex-officio members of the EC: www.reo.gov.hk/en/voter/ecexofficio.htm
ECSSs: www.reo.gov.hk/en/voter/ecss.htm
The VR arrangements for the FCs affected by the Ordinance, as well as the details of the deleted FCs and the repealed registration eligibilities of relevant FCs, were also uploaded to the VR webpage of the REO (www.reo.gov.hk) for reference. For currently registered individual and corporate electors of FCs, if they are no longer eligible to register in their original FC or if their original FC has been deleted after the Ordinance came into effect, but they are eligible to register in another FC, the individual or body concerned may submit an application to register in another FC for which they are eligible no later than the deadline of July 5.
The specified VR application forms can be downloaded from the VR webpage of the REO (www.reo.gov.hk) or obtained from the offices of the REO, the District Offices and the management offices of public housing estates. When submitting their VR application forms, individual and body applicants should also provide their telephone numbers and email addresses, so that the REO can contact them more promptly and efficiently when needed.
Completed application forms may be submitted no later than July 5 via the following channels: by post to the REO office, 13/F, Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, 1 Trademart Drive, Kowloon Bay; by fax to 2891 1180; through the REO e-Form Upload Platform (www.reo-form.gov.hk) – if submitting via this channel, please take note of the application number generated by the system so that the application status may be checked afterwards when needed; or by email to (form@reo.gov.hk) – please do not attach a large number of VR application forms to a single email and send it to the REO's email account, as the large file size may cause delivery failure. Also, submitting application forms through email by providing a hyperlink of cloud storage is not accepted.
For enquiries on VR matters, please visit the "Improve Electoral System" thematic website (www.cmab.gov.hk/improvement/en/home/index.html) or the VR webpage of the REO (www.reo.gov.hk), or call the REO hotline at 2891 1001.
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