Govt Rejects Fears Over Cops Acting As Polling Staff

The government has brushed aside concerns raised by opposition lawmakers about recruiting police officers as polling staff for September's Legco elections, saying it is open to all civil servants.

At a Legco panel meeting, lawmakers including the Democratic Party’s Helena Wong, Ted Hui and the Labour Party’s Fernando Cheung said recruiting current and ex-police officers would undermine the fairness of the elections, saying many of them have shown clear political bias.

But the under secretary at the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, Andy Chan, said they have faced difficulties in recruiting the 31,000 or so polling staff required for the coming elections.

All civil servants, including police officers, are welcome to take up the posts, he said.

Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui later said that the official evaded his question about whether the government is favouring police officers over others in this recruitment exercise.

He claimed pro-Beijing groups and some officers are urging police to register as polling officials so they can "interfere" in the elections.