LEGISLATORS yesterday put pressure on the Government to adopt an automatic electoral registration system.
They said it would ensure a high registration rate and a more accurate electoral register.
Democratic Party member and legislator Cheung Man-kwong, speaking at the constitutional affairs panel, accused the Government of double standards.
He said people in the new nine functional constituencies were registered as electors automatically when their employers submitted their information to the Registration and Electoral Office.
He asked: 'Why has the Government said it is troublesome to allow automatic registration to be implemented in the geographical election but not in the nine functional constituencies?' Acting Deputy Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Joseph Lai Yee-tak, admitted that it was technically feasible to implement automatic registration based on the records from the Registration of Persons' Office, but the accuracy of its records was a problem.
'Population movement makes it difficult for the Registration of Persons' Office to keep an up-to-date record of electors,' he said.