I refer to Mike Rowse’s column (“ Lam has let the mainland voting genie out of the bottle ”, October 19). Those who have been following Legislative Council discussions on voting arrangements would know that voting arrangements for Hong Kong residents living outside Hong Kong have been hotly debated for many years. In response to requests from their constituents who work in mainland China, pro-establishment parties have been urging the government to make arrangements for them to vote from the mainland. Legislators from the pan-democratic camp have consistently opposed this idea. Government officials had pleaded difficulty in making special voting arrangements, citing logistical problems in organising elections outside Hong Kong and the difficulty of assessing whether a Hong Kong resident living outside Hong Kong satisfies the statutory ordinary residence requirement for the right to vote under the Legislative Council Ordinance. The legal difficulty is overstated because the director of immigration should be well aware that there is no statutory definition of ordinary residence. However, based on an authoritative court judgment, Britain’s Home Office has issued guidance on the concept: ordinary residence is established if there is a regular, habitual mode of life in a particular place for the time being; and a person can be ordinarily resident in more than one country at any time. Hong Kong officials should have no problem applying the same guidance. As most Hong Kong residents in mainland China shuttle between Hong Kong and the mainland, most of them are likely to satisfy the ordinary residence requirement. In contrast, under Article 9 of the Chinese nationality law, any Chinese national who has settled abroad and has acquired foreign nationality of his own free will have lost Chinese nationality. Foreign nationals lose their right of abode in Hong Kong if they have not come back to Hong Kong within 36 months of their last visit. Hong Kong residents overseas ask: why can’t we vote from abroad too? Hong Kong residents in mainland China have a much stronger claim to special voting arrangements by virtue of their proximity to Hong Kong, much stronger ties and likelihood of meeting the statutory ordinary residence requirement. If foreign nationals in Hong Kong can vote in elections back home, thanks to special voting arrangements made by their governments, there is no reason why our government should not make special voting arrangements for Hong Kong residents living north of our administrative boundary but in the same country. Regina Ip, member, Hong Kong Legislative Council