Hong Kong Regulations

ELECTORAL AFFAIRS COMMISSION (ELECTORAL PROCEDURE) (DISTRICT COUNCILS) REGULATION - SECT 25

Returning Officer to vary decision if a validly nominated candidate is proved to be disqualified

(Past version on 01/08/1999).

Returning Officer to vary decision if a validly nominated candidate is proved
to be disqualified (L.N. 79 of 2007)

(1) If the disqualification of a candidate is proved to the satisfaction 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. (L.N. 79 of 2007)

(2) The Returning Officer must, as soon as practicable, declare that the
Officer's decision under section 16 is varied to the effect that the candidate
is not validly nominated. 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 disqualified
        candidate;

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

   (c)  that the decision of the Returning Officer under section 16 has been
        varied to the effect that the candidate is not validly nominated; and

   (d)  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 disqualified 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
disqualified candidate that the Officer's decision under section 16 in
relation to that candidate is varied and the reasons for it. The Returning 
Officer must sign the endorsement.

(7) The Returning Officer must, if practicable, send a notice of the
declaration under subsection (2) to the disqualified candidate and 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 disqualification 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.