Two-year cover-up of lost election data ‘unacceptable’, says Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam
- Missing file contained the names, addresses and ID card numbers of about 8,000 voters
It was unacceptable that election officers covered up the loss of thousands of voters’ personal details for more than two years, Hong Kong’s leader said on Wednesday.
“I personally find this matter unacceptable,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on the loss of a register containing the information.
The file contained the names, addresses and ID card numbers of about 8,000 voters assigned to a polling station in Tsing Yi in the 2016 Legislative Council elections. It also showed who had voted and who had not.
The Registration and Electoral Office (REO) admitted it had found the register missing in October 2016, when a law enforcement agency requested it from the office. On Tuesday, REO chief Wong See-man, who claimed he was kept in the dark too, blamed “internal communication problems”.