'Unfair If Called-off Polls Leave Candidates Broke'

Lawmakers on Thursday expressed concern about proposed changes to election rules that will leave candidates out of pocket if a poll is called off because one of their opponents is disqualified or dies.

The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau told a Legco bills’ committee – which is discussing Beijing’s overhaul of the SAR’s electoral system – that under the new arrangements, subsidies for campaign expenses will only be paid out after voting has been completed.

However, the administration agreed to consider a request from Business and Professionals Alliance lawmaker Priscilla Leung to cover part of candidates’ expenses even when polls are cancelled before an election.

The bureau’s principal assistant secretary Cherie Yeung explained that they were unable to make payments before the election because the subsidy was calculated on a candidates’ share of the vote.

DAB lawmaker Horace Cheung said this wasn’t fair to other candidates, saying whether someone could claim back campaign expenses appeared to all boil down to luck.

Previous local elections were able to continue even in the event of a disqualification or death, because of the city’s use of a proportional representation voting system where a political party would submit a list of candidates.

However, future local elections will use a single non-transferable vote system with voters casting ballots for individual candidates.

Authorities had earlier explained that by-elections will be held if a candidate in local polls dies or gets disqualified half way through the election, because voters may not be happy with the remaining candidates.