Four elected to HKSAR LegCo in by-election

HONG KONG, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- A total of four people were elected as members of the seventh-term Legislative Council (LegCo) of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in a by-election Sunday.

Six candidates competed for the seats under the Election Committee constituency after four former lawmakers joined the HKSAR government, leaving the seats vacant.

The voting started at 9:00 a.m. and closed at 11:30 a.m. local time Sunday. A total of 1,307 Election Committee members cast their votes, representing a voter turnout rate of 90.7 percent.

HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee congratulated the elected members. Noting that the by-election is the first LegCo by-election since the electoral system of the HKSAR was improved to implement the "patriots administering Hong Kong" principle, Lee said that the HKSAR government organized the by-election in accordance with the law, providing patriots aspiring to participate in policy debates with a fair, just and open election.

"I hope that the four newly elected members will assume their duties with due diligence, and, under the executive-led system and the 'patriots administering Hong Kong' principle, create and develop an environment conducive for constructive policy debates and join hands with the government in solving different problems together," he said.

The polling and counting processes went very smoothly and the by-election was conducted in an open, fair and honest manner, said David Lok, chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission.

An oath-taking ceremony administered by Lee will be held Monday for the four elected members, the HKSAR government said in a statement.

The seventh term of the HKSAR LegCo have a total of 90 members. The members are elected by the Election Committee constituency (40 seats), functional constituencies (30 seats), and geographical constituencies (20 seats), respectively.