THE Boundary and Election Commission was at loggerheads with broadcasters yesterday after it censured three of them for releasing exit poll results before voting in the Legislative Council election had ended.
ATV, RTHK, and Cable TV were found to have unveiled exit poll results while voting for the 10 Election Committee seats remained open on September 17.
Commission chairman Justice Woo Kwok-hing said these broadcasters had 'blatantly flouted the election guidelines and slighted the importance of maintaining a fair election'.
He maintained that early broadcast of exit poll results could have had undue influence on election results compromising the fairness of the whole election.
In a letter to the commission, Cheung Man-yee, RTHK's Director of Broadcasting, urged it to re-consider and 'refrain from issuing the public censure'.
Ms Cheung asked: 'We wonder whether the commission has received any complaints on the matter? This is simply a non-issue and the commission would be ill-advised to pursue 'censures'.' Chiu Yun-woon, RTHK's head of Chinese News and Current Affairs, said: 'The exit polls were conducted independently and scientifically.' He said by releasing the result before midnight 'we attained a greater transparency and credibility for the election'.
