Hong Kong forms fifth legislature

The fifth Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has been formed, with the 70 seats filled following the election, the city's Registration and Electoral Office said on Monday.

The election of Hong Kong's legislature was held on Sunday.

Electoral Affairs Commission Chairman Justice Barnabas Fung said about 1.83 million registered geographical constituency electors cast their votes, representing a provisional turnout rate of about 53 percent, compared to 45.2 percent in the 2008 Legislative Council election.

Fung said about 150,000 registered electors of the traditional functional constituencies cast their votes in their respective functional constituencies, representing a provisional cumulative turnout rate of about 69.6 percent.

Speaking to the media after inspecting the central counting station, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said the number of seats and candidates for this year's Legislative Council election was higher than in previous years, and the competition was keen.

He said the candidates had campaigned hard, but the order at polling stations was good. Election complaints were mostly about the candidates' advertisements.

He said the government will handle those complaints according to established procedures.

(China Daily 09/11/2012 page4)