A top adviser to Hong Kong’s leader has questioned the need for judges who “live in the clouds” to oversee city polls following vote-counting delays in the recent Election Committee race, even as she insisted she was not targeting incumbent Barnabas Fung Wah. New People’s Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee said on Monday the role of supervising electoral processes under Beijing’s reformed system would be more suited to those with a solid background in administration than jurists. “I’m not singling out Fung, but judges live a life very much different from that of ordinary people. They live in the clouds. I wonder how often [Fung] goes into the community,” said Ip, who sits on Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s de facto cabinet, the Executive Council. Hong Kong’s first ‘patriots-only’ polls marred by vote counting delay Ip was among the pro-establishment lawmakers grilling electoral officials on Monday over the late arrival of results in this month’s Election Committee poll, the first since Beijing overhauled Hong Kong’s elections system to ensure only “patriots” could hold political power. It took some 14 hours for officers to count about 4,380 votes. Polling stations closed at 6pm on September 19, but the preliminary results did not arrive until 3am the following day, with the full breakdown only coming in at 8am. Fung, chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, has previously apologised for the delay, saying frontline staff were partly to blame for not seeking help quickly enough when encountering problems. At Monday’s meeting of the Legislative Council’s constitutional affairs panel, Ip told Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai that Fung’s apology was not enough. “The government should identify the deficiencies and make improvements. A judge is usually appointed because he or she is considered impartial and fair. But there are many other people in society who are also impartial and fair,” she said. “May we appoint someone with administrative expertise to be the commission’s head so he or she can manage such [operational] issues? ... New thinking is what we need.” Tsang would only say that he would pass on Ip’s suggestion to Lam, as it was the chief executive’s responsibility to appoint the commission head. He added the government had asked the commission to look into vote-counting problems and submit a report as soon as possible, while staff training would be stepped up for future elections. A spokesman for the commission said on Monday that it would not comment on matters that fell outside its remit. Fung, who was not at Monday’s meeting, has been chairman of the commission since 2009. His current term expires next August. The body was established under the Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance in 1997. According to the ordinance, the commission chairman must be a judge of the High Court and appointed in consultation with the chief justice. The commission's responsibilities include making recommendations on geographical constituency boundaries, and conducting and supervising elections. The race is on to be Hong Kong’s new kingmaker It also supervises the registration of electors and makes arrangements to ensure elections are conducted openly, fairly and honestly. Also at Monday’s panel meeting, Tsang said government staff working as polling officers in the Legislative Council election on December 19 would have to undergo “political vetting” to ensure “absolute loyalty”. It is estimated that some 36,000 civil servants will be needed to help with polling or counting on the day. Tsang, responding to a question by Wong Ting-kwong, of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said he had approached the heads of disciplinary forces to put forward names for the task. “We have liaised with the Security Bureau. There will be a check to make sure [the polling officers] are absolutely loyal. Actually all civil servants have taken an oath to swear allegiance.” At the meeting, legislators were also told the nomination period for the coming Legco election would run from October 30 to November 12. There will be 620 ordinary polling stations, and up to 23 others based in penal institutions and police stations. Polling will be from 8.30am to 10.30pm, an hour shorter than in previous contests.