Author Archives: hksar gov

The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
 
     The Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) today (July 24) published a report of an independent investigation into the loss of the Final Register of Electors (FR) of a polling station located at SKH Tsing Yi Estate Ho Chak Wan Primary School in Kwai Tsing by the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) in the 2016 Legislative Council General Election.

     “The EAC conducted an independent investigation into the incident to find out the underlying facts and identify the problems relating to the electoral arrangements as well as overall management of the REO with a view to recommending improvement measures. The investigation has been completed. Due to the lapse of time and lack of direct evidence, it is not possible to ascertain precisely when and how the marked FR was lost,” a spokesman for the EAC said.

     “However, the EAC’s investigation reveals shortcomings of the REO in the handling of electoral documents after the 2016 Legislative Council General Election, including the packing, checking, collection, delivery, storage and retrieval of electoral documents. The EAC believes that the long working hours of polling staff, as well as the unsatisfactory store arrangement and management, may have led to the abovementioned problems.

     “The EAC noted that, after the 2016 Legislative Council General Election, the REO has introduced a number of improvement measures to better handle relevant electoral documents. The investigation report has made a number of recommendations to further improve the procedures for the handling of electoral documents and materials. Such recommendations include shortening the working hours of polling staff to enhance their efficiency in packing and returning electoral documents; providing clearer and streamlined procedural guidelines for handling of electoral documents; proactively exploring and introducing more modern and effective technologies to help maintain proper and up-to-date store management; and concrete improvements to the store management system to facilitate stock-taking and retrieval of electoral items. As a matter of priority, the REO should explore ways to consolidate its scattered stores and offices in order to enhance its operational efficiency. Consideration should also be given by the Government to strengthening the top tier and senior management of the REO in order to meet the growing complexities and challenges of elections.

     “The report details the searching efforts made by the REO after discovering that the FR could not be located in October 2016. The EAC notes that relevant REO staff (especially the middle ranking ones) had already made very strenuous efforts in locating the marked FR in question. However, the ex-members of the senior management of the REO had not accorded sufficient priority or an appropriate degree of urgency to the matter. They should have instructed their staff to complete their searches as early as possible, or consider filing with the relevant authorities the possible loss of the FR.” The REO is therefore advised to put in place an effective reporting mechanism within the department to timely follow up such matters.

     “During the investigation, the EAC further notes that in early January 2018, the ex-Chief Electoral Officer had already been aware of the issue that the FR in question had not yet been located. The investigation also reveals that the ex-top management of the REO lacked the sensitivity in dealing with the loss of the FR. Neither had they discussed the matter in detail nor had they given any steer to relevant REO staff what follow-up actions should be taken.”

     The EAC believes that the Government and the REO will carefully consider the recommendations in the report, explore how they should be implemented, continue to improve the procedures for the handling of electoral documents, and prevent the recurrence of similar incidents. The EAC will continue to oversee the work of the REO and ensure that the elections in Hong Kong can be conducted in an open, fair, and honest manner.

     The EAC has uploaded the full investigation report to the EAC website (www.eac.hk/pdf/loss_register_electors/report(Eng).pdf) for public information. read more

     A man was fined $7,000 at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts today (July 24) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
           
     The courts heard that in November last year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected a suspected unlicensed guesthouse on Fa Yuen Street in Mong Kok. During the inspection, the OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in the guesthouse on a daily basis.
           
     According to the OLA’s record, the guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. The man responsible for managing the premises was charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
           
     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and can lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years’ imprisonment.
                
     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application “Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses”. read more

     The Lands Department announced today (July 24) that the tender for a site, New Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6577 at Kai Tak Area 4A Site 1, Kai Tak, Kowloon, has been awarded to the highest tenderer, Dragon Star H.K. Investments Limi… read more

     The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Patrick Nip, will visit Guangxi between July 25 and July 26.        During his visit to Guangxi, Mr Nip will meet with government officials o… read more

The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:

     Following is the English translation of the opening remarks by the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) Chairman, Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah, at the press conference today (July 24) on the independent investigation report on the loss of the marked Final Register of Electors (FR) of the 2016 Legislative Council General Election by the Registration and Electoral Office (REO):
 
     Thank you for attending the press conference today. Together with EAC member Mr Arthur Luk, SC, we will give an account of the investigation report on the loss of the FR of the 2016 Legislative Council General Election by the REO.
 
     The REO confirmed on April 9 the loss of the FR of the polling station located at SKH Tsing Yi Estate Ho Chak Wan Primary School in Kwai Tsing District in the 2016 Legislative Council General Election. The marked FR contains the name, sex, address and Hong Kong identity card number for about 8 000 electors assigned to that polling station. The Register also shows the number and types of of ballot papers each elector may be issued and whether the elector had collected his/her ballot papers, but it does not show the choices of the elector made on the votes.
 
     In view of the seriousness of the incident, the EAC decided to launch a comprehensive investigation and review of the incident to find out the underlying facts and identify the problems relating to the electoral arrangements as well as overall management of the REO with a view to recommending improvement measures. At present, the government has an established mechanism in handling the conduct and discipline of the government officers and all suspected conduct and disciplinary matters of government officers should be handled under this mechanism. Therefore, it is outside the scope of the EAC’s review to investigate and determine the integrity or personal responsibility of individual officers.
 
     The investigation has been completed. The full report has been uploaded to the EAC website (www.eac.hk) for public information, and provided to the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau for reference. I thank the EAC members Mr Luk and Professor Fanny Cheung for their endeavours to investigate the incident and prepare this report.
 
     Since the full investigation report has been uploaded, I will now focus on the findings of the investigations and areas for improvement for the REO. read more