Election Committee Vacancies
In April 2005, 33 vacancies (27 from the regular constituencies, 6 from the religious sector) existed in the Election Committee. Nominations were accepted over a one-week timeframe from 9 April to 15 April to fill the seats. The six empty seats in the religious sector were appointed by the religious councils. Out of the 27 seats in 16 functional constituencies, 12 candidates were immediately declared elected to their seats because there were no more candidates competing than the number of seats available, and hence, these ones were declared elected unopposed.
In the other seven constituencies, where 15 vacancies were present, a poll was held on 1 May, and the count was conducted smoothly with all the elected candidates expected to be entered onto the official listing of Election Committee members within the near future. The by-election was marked by voter apathy, where only 15% of the eligible population turned up, with some constituencies reporting as low as 12%, despite the pleadings of the Hong Kong Government. Only two functional constituencies, Agriculture and Fisheries (85%) and District Council (86%) had higher voter turnouts than one quarter.
Read more about this topic: Hong Kong Chief Executive Election, 2005, The Election
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