Hong Kong Regulations

ELECTORAL AFFAIRS COMMISSION (ELECTORAL PROCEDURE) (DISTRICT COUNCILS) REGULATION - SECT 24

Returning Officer to declare if a validly nominated candidate is known to have died

Caution: This is a past version. See the current version here.

(1) If the death of a candidate comes to the knowledge of the
Returning Officer before the election day but after that Officer has decided
that the candidate is validly nominated, that Officer must notify the Chief
Electoral Officer as soon as possible.

(2) The Returning Officer must, as soon as practicable, declare that the
candidate has died. That Officer must further declare which candidates are
validly nominated for election for the relevant constituency.

(3) A declaration under subsection (2) must be made-

   (a)  by notice published in the Gazette;

   (b)  by notice published in any daily newspaper in circulation in Hong
        Kong;

   (c)  by a public announcement made by radio or television; or

   (d)  by such other means as the Returning Officer considers appropriate in
        the circumstances.

(4) A notice under subsection (3)(a) or (b) must state-

   (a)  the name and the principal residential address of the deceased
        candidate;

   (b)  the name of the constituency and the name of the relevant District;
        and

   (c)  the name and the principal residential address of each candidate that
        remains validly nominated for that constituency.

(5) A public announcement under subsection (3)(c) must state-

   (a)  the name of the deceased candidate;

   (b)  the name of the constituency and the name of the relevant District;
        and

   (c)  the name of each candidate that remains validly nominated for that
        constituency.

(6) The Returning Officer must endorse on the nomination form of the deceased
candidate that the candidate has died. The Returning Officer must sign the
endorsement.

(7) The Returning Officer must, if practicable, send a notice of the
declaration under subsection (2) to each of the candidates that remains
validly nominated for the constituency concerned to replace the notice under
section 19(3).

(8) On polling day, the Returning Officer may, where that Officer considers
appropriate, display a notice which complies with subsection (4) in a
prominent place outside each polling station for the constituency concerned.

(9) If, after the death of a candidate, only one candidate remains validly
nominated for the constituency concerned, the Returning Officer must, by such
means as that Officer considers appropriate in the circumstances, declare that
no poll is to be held for that constituency. The Returning Officer must in the
notice under subsection (3)(a), if any, or in a separate notice declare, for
the purposes of section 39(1) of the District Councils Ordinance ( Cap 547),
the remaining candidate as being duly elected as an elected member for that
constituency.

(10) A separate notice under subsection (9) must-

   (a)  be published in the Gazette as soon as practicable;

   (b)  state the name and the principal residential address of the candidate
        declared to be duly elected as an elected member; and

   (c)  be in the specified form.