John Lee appointed head in vetting candidate eligibility

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Tuesday announced the appointment of Chief Secretary for Administration John Lee Ka-chiu as chairman of the seven member, newly-established Candidate Eligibility Review Committee.

Lam also announced a new set of electoral arrangements for the three major upcoming elections during a press briefing ahead of the Executive Council meeting.

Lee will lead the body to review and confirm the eligibility of candidates for the election of the chief executive, the subsector election of the Election Committee that is responsible for selecting the city's top leader and the election of the Legislative Council.

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung and Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui Ying-wai were appointed as official members of the committee.

The three non-official members, regarded as "non-partisan" and "highly honored" in society, were Elsie Leung Oi-sie, former secretary for justice and deputy director of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, former Legislative Council president and former Hong Kong member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and Lawrence Lau Juen-yee, former vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Lam said the special voter registration for the subsectors of the Election Committee, which will nominate and elect the city's next chief executive, and Legislative Council functional constituencies, were completed on Monday. The registrations involved those whose eligibility was affected or those who were newly eligible under the Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Ordinance 2021, enacted on May 31.

The Registration and Electoral Office will announce registration details later on July 18, said Lam.

Among an estimated of 10,000 eligible voters in 40 subsectors of the Election Committee, the office has received about 9,300 registration forms, representing a voter registration rate of over 90 percent. Lam said it indicated a broad representation and balanced participation under the new electoral system.

The 2021 Election Committee subsector elections are to be held on Sept 19 for elected seats of the 1,500 members of the Election Committee.

In addition, the Legislative Council election, which was postponed at least one year due to the pandemic, is scheduled for Dec 19, and the chief executive election is slated for March 27, 2022.

Lam also announced the release of her last Policy Address for her administration on Oct 6. Until then, a total of 30 consultation sessions will open to collect views from different sectors, political parties and the public.