Hong Kong Legislative Council election: jackets to be given as cover for ‘sensitive’ slogans worn by voters, police to step in if requests to leave ignored
- Poll authority says dissemination of a word or symbol with political or protest meaning would amount to election advertisement
- In an unprecedented move, civil servants at polling stations will be reimbursed on taxi charges for travelling to other locations to cast respective ballots
Voters in Hong Kong with attire sporting slogans deemed sensitive by polling station authorities on Sunday will be given jackets to cover up the designs, with police intervening if people refuse requests to leave, the Post has learned.
The measure was revealed last month by Justice Barnabas Fung Wah, chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, the city’s election watchdog, according to sources present at a training session for polling station officers.
Fung had reportedly said the jackets were for covering “sensitive” political slogans on the day of the city’s Legislative Council election, the first such race since a Beijing overhaul of the system in March.
A spokesman for the Registration and Electoral Office, tasked with holding polls in Hong Kong, said on Friday that dissemination of a word or symbol with political or protest meaning would amount to election advertisement, if it was aimed at facilitating or preventing candidates from being returned.
“Displaying election advertisements inside a polling station and its vicinity on the polling day constitutes an offence,” the spokesman said.
“In previous elections, polling station officers would provide relevant voters with jackets worn by station staff to cover those words or symbols. The presiding officer may order the person to leave the polling station immediately in accordance with the law.”
The spokesman said the office would not comment on individual wording. A person with knowledge of polling arrangements on Sunday said at least 20 green jackets would be available at each station.
Polling station staff were provided with yellow jackets on election day at the last legislative race in 2016. There were no known incidents of voters being given jackets to cover slogans in that race.
According to the latest operation manual for polling station staff, misconduct is prohibited inside an election facility or in its vicinity, and orders by the presiding officer should be obeyed.
“The officer may order such a person to leave the polling station or its vicinity,” the manual stated, adding that police would be called in if needed.
One runner told reporters she was kicked out during security checks at the starting area. A photo of her shorts showed the words “Hong Kong” printed in a font similar to that used in slogans by supporters of the city’s protest movement.
About 39,000 civil servants manning the roughly 630 polling stations citywide on Sunday will also be allowed to claim taxi charges for travelling to other respective stations to cast their votes.
A person familiar with the unprecedented one-off arrangement, announced in a circular to staff on Thursday, estimated the move could cost the government up to HK$3.5 million.
It is seen by analysts as another attempt by authorities to boost voter turnout.
Fees for election workers will also be increased. The Registration and Electoral Office on Thursday said their honorarium would be raised by between HK$110 and more than HK$5,000, depending on polling station location.
Sunday’s race will be the first for the legislature since Beijing’s shake-up of the city’s electoral system to ensure only “patriots” hold power.
The overhaul, labelled “retrogressive” by critics, expanded the number of Legco members from 70 to 90, while slashing directly elected geographical constituency seats from 35 to 20.
Apart from the 40 seats picked by the powerful Election Committee – which is packed with Beijing loyalists – 30 are for the 28 mainly trade-based functional constituencies.
A total of 153 Legco hopefuls have been cleared to run by the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, a powerful vetting committee set up to screen for national security risks.
Only about a dozen centrist or moderate contenders have thrown their hats into the ring, with mainstream opposition parties – many of their leaders already behind bars – shunning a poll they argued was designed to stifle dissent.
