The new guidelines will apply to all future Legislative Council elections including the next one in September, said Hong Kong Electoral Affairs Commission Chairman Woo Kwok-hing.

The nomination for the Sept.12 Hong Kong Legislative Council elections will run from July 22 to Aug. 4, and potential candidates should read the new set of Legislative Council election guidelines, said Woo Kwok-hing.

One of the major amendments of the guidelines is to raise the maximum imprisonment term from three to six months for the offense of taking photographs inside a polling station and for offenses relating to the infringement of secrecy of votes. The maximum fine for such offenses remains unchanged at 5,000 HK dollars (about 640US dollars).

The maximum penalty for using mobile phones inside a polling station contrary to a direction of the presiding officer remains the same, that is, three months in jail and a 5,000 HK dollars (about 640 US dollars) fine.

According to the new guidelines, counting of functional constituency votes will be carried out in a central counting station as in the last Legislative Council election.

The guidelines were finalized after a 30-day public consultation exercise ended in April, during which 19 written and oral representations were received.

Source: Xinhua