2023 Rural Representative Elections to be held Sunday 8 January

The Home Affairs Department (HAD) yesterday (6/1) called on registered electors to vote in the 2023 Village Representative (including Indigenous Inhabitant Representative (IIR) and Resident Representative) Election (VRE) tomorrow, 8 January and the Kaifong Representative Election (KFRE) next Sunday 15 January.

The polling for the VRE will be held from noon to 7:00 pm on 8 January while the KFRE for Cheung Chau market town will be held on 15 January) from 8:30am to 9:30pm. The HAD has issued polling notices to electors specifying the date, time and place of the poll. Details can also be found on the Rural Representative Election (RRE) website (www.had.gov.hk/rre). The nominations for the Sai Kung North and Sai Kung constituencies can be downloaded here:

A spokesman for the HAD said, “Eligible electors are required to bring along the original of their identity document or other specified alternative documents to the designated polling station shown on the polling notice for their village/market town to cast their votes on the specified election day.

“Electors must use the chop attached to the cardboard for stamping a single ‘tick’ in the circle(s) opposite to the name(s) of the candidate(s) of their choices when casting the vote, such that an elector’s intention is clearly indicated and the issue of invalid or questionable ballot papers avoided.

“The HAD attaches great importance to the election. With the supervision of the Electoral Affairs Commission and assistance from other concerned departments, we will strive to ensure that the election is held in an open, fair and honest manner.”

There are over 200 000 registered electors in the VRE and the KFRE, and a total of 1 724 validly nominated candidates in the elections. Since one of the two candidates contesting in the IIR election passed away, the remaining candidate was returned uncontested; as such, 1 100 candidates have been returned uncontested in the current Election, while 623 candidates will compete for 286 seats in the VRE and 39 seats in the KFRE.