Fears as poll for chief 'left exposed'

Fears were raised yesterday that possible corruption in the next election for Chief Executive might not be properly controlled.

The concerns came after legislators were told the poll would not be covered in a bill being drawn up to combat election malpractice.

Lawmakers scrutinising the Election (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) bill asked why it was not being applied to the election for Chief Executive, to be held in 2002.

The bill will apply to the Legislative Council elections next year, the district council polls this year, and elections for ex-officio seats on the Heung Yee Kuk and the executive committee of rural committees.

Lee Wing-tat of the Democratic Party said the legislation should apply to all elections.

He said the Government should not give the international community the impression that controls on corrupt and illegal conduct would be less stringent in the Chief Executive's election.

'As the electorates involve National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference members, I hope the Government is not setting special standards because of their special identities,' Mr Lee said.

Emily Lau Wai-hing of The Frontier said the Government should apply the bill to the election of the Chief Executive as soon as possible because there were no such controls in place during the selection of Tung Chee-hwa.

Acting Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Clement Mak Ching-hung said it was technically infeasible to add the Chief Executive election to the bill at this stage 'when the election details are not yet drafted'.

'We will draft and table legislation over the election to Legco at a later stage and we will consider adding controls over corrupt and illegal conduct then,' he said.

Ronald Arculli of the Liberal Party agreed with Mr Mak.

He said it would be difficult to apply the bill because the electorate was not yet clearly defined.

But independent legislator Andrew Wong Wang-fat said the definition was clear and the Government should go further.

'The requirement should in fact be applied to the election of the 800-strong Election Committee,' he said referring to the body that will choose the Chief Executive.