Religious bodies are expecting a 20 per cent turnout in tomorrow's selection of candidates to sit on the Election Committee. A spokesman for Christian SAR Vote, the organiser, said that 30,000 ballot papers had been distributed to churches. 'I expect more than 20,000 Christians will turn out to cast their votes,' he said. The Christian Council, one of six groups of the religious subsector on the Election Committee, will select their seven representatives out of 20 candidates. The council covers 21 mainstream denominations and organisations representing about 100,000 believers. The religious groups will have 40 seats on the 800-strong Election Committee, returning 10 legislators. There are 154 polling stations at churches, of which seven are open to all Christians of different groups. It is expected a result will be announced around 8 pm. The process will be monitored by Executive Councillor Rosanna Wong Yick-ming. Most of the 23 polling stations are at churches of the Church of Christ in China. Former legislator Tik Chi-yuen believes leaders of the main churches will be the favourites to win selection. These include Luk Fai of the Church of Christ in China, Li Ping-kwong of the Methodist Church of Hong Kong and Simon Sit Poon-ki of the Tsung Tsin Mission, Hong Kong.
