'Plan For Mainland-based Voters To Be Announced Soon'

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that the government will soon announce arrangements for Hong Kong residents on the mainland to vote in Legco elections next month.

Speaking ahead of the weekly Executive Council meeting, the CE said the polls are just several weeks away, and it looks unlikely that the border can be fully reopened in time for people to come to the SAR to cast their ballots.

Lam said the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau and mainland authorities are looking at how polling stations can be set up in the border area.

"We have to ensure that quarantine is not necessary upon people's return to the mainland. If not, it will be hard to convince...Hongkongers on the mainland to return just for the vote, and then they have to observe 14 or 21 days of quarantine," she said.

"We will make an announcement as soon as possible because we also want a registration process, so we can know approximately how many Hongkongers on the mainland want to vote. Then we can plan how many stations to set up at the borders. Because currently only the Shenzhen Bay and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge ports are running. If there are too many people, these ports wouldn't be able to cope."

Lam urged the public to participate in the elections, and warned people against encouraging others to boycott the polls.

"I will forewarn that people should not try to breach the law by inciting or promoting activities that will undermine the integrity of a public election. If we notice that there is any sort of that activity, the law enforcement body will take very robust actions," she said.

The CE also said she told the chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission last week that there can be no mistakes in the December polls, as the number of voters and polling stations will both increase compared to the Election Committee elections in September.

More than 36,000 staff, consisting mostly of civil servants, will help with the December 19 polls, while an eligibility review committee will announce which would-be candidates have been cleared to run by November 26.