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Following is a question by the Hon Charles Mok and a written reply by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Raymond Tam, in the Legislative Council today (April 27):
Question:
The eligibility for registration as electors in the Information Technology Functional Constituency (ITFC) of the Legislative Council (LegCo) is based on memberships in bodies specified in the Legislative Council Ordinance (Cap 542) (specified bodies). Under section 3(2A) and (2B) of Cap 542, an amendment to or substitution of the constitution of a specified body which relates to the following is subject to approval by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs (SCMA) in writing: (a) the objects of the body, (b) the criteria and conditions of membership of the body, or (c) the eligibility of members of the body to vote at a general meeting of the body, but such power of SCMA to give such an approval may be exercised only for the purpose of defining the composition of the relevant functional constituency. On the other hand, it has been reported recently that one ITFC specified body has engaged in a membership conversion programme with a non-specified body, in a bid to evade certain restrictions for elector registration and enable members of that non-specified body to become eligible electors of ITFC. There are views that at present, apart from specified bodies carrying out their own vetting of their members' professional and academic qualifications, there is no mechanism in place to govern membership matters of specified bodies, resulting in a lack of transparency in the eligibility of ITFC electors. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the current number of registered electors in ITFC; whether it knows the current number of ITFC specified bodies which implement membership conversion arrangements with non-specified bodies;
(2) whether it conducted, in the past four years, any examination on the administration of memberships of ITFC specified bodies, so as to ensure that their members meet the eligibility requirements for ITFC electors under Cap 542;
(3) of the ITFC specified bodies to which the Independent Commission Against Corruption offered advice on membership administration under its visit-cum-advisory service programme in the past four years;
(4) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in the past four years involving membership conversion arrangements of ITFC specified bodies with non-specified bodies, and the related follow-up actions; whether they have studied (i) if those persons who obtained memberships of specified bodies through such arrangements possess recognised professional qualifications, and (ii) if it is against the law for such persons to vote in the LegCo ITFC election when they do not possess the recognised qualifications;
(5) whether it has assessed if the aforesaid membership conversion arrangements have violated the requirements in section 3(2A) and (2B) of Cap 542;
(6) whether it has compiled statistics on those ITFC specified bodies which implemented the aforesaid membership conversion arrangements in the past four years, as well as the number of such bodies which had obtained written approval of SCMA for implementation of such membership conversion arrangements and the relevant details;
(7) whether the authorities will, upon knowing that changes have been made to the eligibility of membership of a specified body, review the eligibility of the members of such body for registration as electors for the constituency concerned; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(8) whether it has plans to review the relevant provisions of Cap 542 in the light of the aforesaid membership conversion arrangements, so that measures (such as establishing a monitoring system and conducting random checks proactively) can be put in place to plug the relevant loopholes to ensure the fairness of this year's LegCo Election and the Election Committee Subsector Elections; if it has such plans, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
With regard to the various parts of the question raised by Hon Mok, our consolidated reply is as follows:
Sections 20Z and 25 of the Legislative Council Ordinance (Cap 542) (the LCO) specify the composition of and the eligibility for registration as electors of the information technology functional constituency (ITFC). According to section 3(2A) and (2B) of the LCO, for the purpose of defining the electorate and the nature of the relevant functional constituencies (FCs), approval in writing by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs must be obtained for any amendment to or substitution of the constitution of a specified body involving (i) the objects of the body; (ii) the criteria and conditions of membership of the body; or (iii) the eligibility of members of the body to vote at a general meeting of the body.
Besides, according to section 42 of the Electoral Affairs Commission (Registration) (Electors for Legislative Council Functional Constituencies) (Voters for Election Committee Subsectors) (Members of Election Committee) Regulation (Cap 541B), all specified bodies are obliged to provide with the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) on request information about their members who meet the eligibility requirements in the relevant FCs under the LCO for the purpose of voter registration (VR). The information provided must be true and accurate and failure to do so constitutes a criminal offence and would be liable to a maximum penalty of a fine at level 2 ($5,000) and imprisonment for 6 months.
With regard to the FCs, registered electors who have ceased to be eligible to be registered under the FCs concerned shall be disqualified from voting in the relevant election. Under section 16 of the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance (Cap 554), a person engages in corrupt conduct at an election if the person votes at the election knowing that he/she is not entitled to do so. The maximum penalty is a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for 7 years.
Generally speaking, if electors of an individual FC include members of a specified body, this refers to members who are entitled to vote at general meetings of the specified body as provided by its constitution. In other words, although there may be more than one way to become a member of the specified body, or the specified body may have different types of membership, and so forth, at the end of the day, the relevant person still has to meet the eligibility requirements under the LCO in order to be registered as an elector in the relevant FC.
Under the aforementioned system, the REO collects from all specified bodies in every VR cycle their latest list of members who meet the eligibility requirements under the LCO for registration as electors in the relevant FCs so as to review the eligibility of individuals for VR. In the processing of new VR applications, the REO would check whether the applicants concerned are included in the lists provided by specified bodies. For registered electors, the REO would check the particulars in the electoral registers and, in accordance with the electoral laws, initiate the statutory inquiry process for electors who no longer meet the eligibility requirements for registration, requesting them to provide the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) with proofs of their eligibility for registration before the statutory deadline. If the electors concerned are not able to present proofs that they are still eligible for registration in the relevant FC before the deadline, the ERO will put their names on the omissions list (OL) in accordance with the electoral laws.
The REO publishes the provisional registers of electors (PR), OL and the final registers of electors every year for inspection by the public, so as to ensure a high degree of transparency in the VR system and to facilitate public scrutiny. Before the close of the public inspection period, the public may lodge objections or claims to the ERO. Such cases will then be referred to the Revising Officer for consideration and ruling.
In addition, the REO has started, from the 2012 VR cycle, the practice of issuing letters to the specified bodies annually to appeal to them to strengthen their membership administration and comply with their constitutions, and to adopt proper procedures to ensure propriety in membership administration, enhancing transparency, and exercising due diligence in providing up-to-date membership information to the REO. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has also, since mid-2013, started to visit specified bodies (including those of the ITFC) and provide corruption prevention advisory services to further drive home the message of good corporate governance and importance of a transparent membership administration. In late 2015, the ICAC also issued a best practice checklist on membership administration to all specified bodies through the REO to assist them in strengthening their membership administration system.
As far as the 2016 VR cycle is concerned, the REO is in the process of conducting the aforementioned checking measures on the eligibility of individuals for registration in the relevant FCs. The REO has all along adopted prudent and strict procedures to process each application for registration as electors or application for updating registration particulars, so as to ensure that the applicants or electors meet the eligibility requirements for registration under the relevant legislation. All validated applications for registration as electors in FCs and applications for updating registration particulars will be reflected in the PR to be published on or before June 1 this year.
If the REO receives any complaint or information showing that a specified body is suspected of breaching the relevant electoral laws, the REO will take appropriate action to follow up the case, including approaching the specified body for enquiry and information, and referring the case to the law enforcement agencies for follow-up action as appropriate.
According to the 2015 final register of electors for FCs, a total of 5,650 registered electors are listed under the ITFC, of whom 5,307 are individual electors and 343 corporate electors. The REO does not maintain any information or statistics regarding membership conversion arrangements of specified bodies, or the number of complaints concerning such arrangements. We would conduct the Legislative Council general election in accordance with the current electoral laws.
Ends/Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Issued at HKT 12:23
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