Hong Kong Regulations

ELECTORAL AFFAIRS COMMISSION (ELECTORAL PROCEDURE) (ELECTION COMMITTEE) REGULATION - SECT 66

Who may be present at counting of votes

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (6), only the Chief Returning  Officer
(Subsectors), Returning Officer, Assistant Returning Officer and the following
persons may be present at the counting of votes-

   (a)  counting officers;

   (b)  candidates;

   (c)  election agents and counting agents;

   (d)  members of the Commission;

   (e)  the Chief Electoral Officer;

   (f)  police officers on duty at the counting station;

   (g)  members of the Civil Aid Service on duty at the counting  station;

   (h)  public officers authorized in writing by the Chief Electoral  Officer;
        and

   (i)  persons authorized in writing by a member of the Commission.

(2) No other person may be present at the counting of votes except with the
permission of-

   (a)  if the counting takes place at a counting zone of a central 
        counting station, the Chief Returning Officer (Subsectors), or the
        Returning Officer in charge of the counting zone; or

   (b)  if the counting takes place at a counting zone of a counting  station
        that is not a central counting station, the Returning Officer who
        supervises the counting station.

(3) The Chief Returning Officer (Subsectors), and the Returning  Officer in
charge of the counting zone, are to ensure that the arrangements for the
counting of votes at a counting zone of a central  counting station are such
that the candidates and their respective election agents or counting agents
are able to observe how individual votes are counted.

(4) The Returning Officer who supervises a counting station is to ensure that
the arrangements for the counting of votes at a counting zone of the
counting station are such that the candidates and their respective
election agents or counting agents are able to observe how individual votes
are counted.

(5) Only an election agent or counting agent regarding whom notice of
appointment has been given under this Regulation may be present during the
counting of votes at the counting zone. On arriving at the counting  station,
an election agent or counting agent must report in person to the
Returning Officer and produce his or her identity document and a declaration
of secrecy completed on the specified form by him or her.

(6) The Chief Returning Officer (Subsectors) (in the case of a
central counting station), or the Returning Officer who supervises the
counting station (in the case of a counting station that is not a central 
counting station), may, if that Officer considers it appropriate and
practicable without disrupting the counting of votes and prejudicing the
secrecy of the individual votes, permit members of the public to observe the
counting of votes from an area at the counting station set apart for that
purpose by that Officer. The area is to be at such a distance from the place
where the votes are being counted as that Officer considers appropriate.