Legco seat boundaries will not be redrawn despite six additions

The Electoral Affairs Committee has recommended that the boundaries of the five geographical constituencies remain unchanged in next year's Legislative Council elections, even though six more lawmakers will be returned by direct elections this time.

Justice Woo Kwok-hing, chairman of the commission, said they had decided to stick to the existing boundaries after considering several options.

'Voters are now familiar with the existing constituency boundaries. Changing the demarcations for the sake of change is obviously unwarranted and will only confuse people,' he said.

Under the proposal, which is open for public consultation until August 13, six seats will be allocated for Hong Kong Island, four for Kowloon West, five for Kowloon East, eight for New Territories West and seven for New Territories East.

In line with the Basic Law, the number of directly elected seats will increase from the current 24 to 30 with the next poll. Main political parties and a number of legislators said the boundary recommendation and the distribution of new seats were within their expectations.

Some believed the recent rallies against the proposed national security law would give the pro-democracy camp an electoral boost.