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Legislative Council elections 2016
Hong KongPolitics

‘Can’t help think there might be some conspiracy’: 17 Hong Kong arts groups disqualified from voting in Legco polls

Organisations struck off list of voters for sports, performing arts, culture and publication functional constituency after being inactive too long

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Clara Cheung, chairwoman of STRA, holds a letter sent from the Registration and Electoral Office saying the group has been disqualified from voting. Photo: Edward Wong
Ng Kang-chung
At least 17 arts or culture groups have been told they are disqualified from voting in the coming Legislative Council elections, partly because they have been struck off a statutory list of voters after being inactive for too long.

The Registration and Electoral Office has allowed the affected groups until next Monday to prove their eligibility otherwise they will not be able to vote in the September 4 elections.

The issue centres on the sports, performing arts, culture and publication functional constituency and came to light after the updated list of “specified organisations” under the Hong Kong Arts Development Council was published in the Government Gazette last week.
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About 17 groups are affected, according to the office.

The Legco seat represents one of the 29 functional constituencies in the legislature, where 35 lawmakers will be returned through the elections. Different voting systems apply to different functional constituencies. Some operate a corporate voting system, some an individual one. Others, such as the sports, performing arts, culture and publication sector, adopt a mix of both corporate and individual votes.

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Under the Legislative Council Ordinance, arts and culture bodies on the council’s list of voters, or which have received grants or sponsorship from the council, are qualified as electors in the functional constituency.

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