NG KANG-CHUNG KC.NG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 30 September, 2015, 8:51pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 30 September, 2015, 9:22pm
The city’s numerous buildings may be listed on a database as a way to make sure registered voters declare the right addresses. Photo: AFP
Hong Kong’s election watchdog is mulling the possibility of building a database of the city’s tens of thousands of buildings as part of a package of stricter measures proposed by the government to combat vote-planting.
Measures under consideration also included requiring those registering as voters or updating their home addresses to supply proof of abode, as well as increasing the penalty for giving false information, lawmakers heard today.
But to avoid abuse of the complaint system, officials said people who alleged voting fraud might be required to substantiate their cases and provide evidence at hearings.
Undersecretary for constitutional and mainland affairs Ronald Chan Ngok-pang said implementing this requirement could “avoid people lodging complaints based purely on imagination”.
The proposals were made at a special meeting of the Legislative Council’s constitutional affairs panel today, following a surge in complaints – mainly lodged by pan-democratic parties – of suspected vote-planting in the run-up to district council elections in November.
The Registration and Electoral Office received 49 complaints involving 1,451 registered electors, up from just three complaints involving 86 electors during the last district polls, in 2011.
This year, Hongkongers complained of unknown people using their home addresses to register for voting. Some voters allegedly declared addresses that did not exist.
According to the law, all cases shall be referred to judges assigned as independent revising officers.
The three judges this year disqualified 299 of the 1,451 electors in question after court hearings. Another 300-odd voters had their addresses updated, while the rest of the complaints were ruled to be unsubstantiated.
Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah said in August that hotels could be cited as a voter's address if they "ordinarily reside in the hotel". Fung also said there were "about 10 cases" of voters using public areas as registered addresses. "The electoral registration system should not deprive homeless people of the right to vote. It is a matter of human rights concern," he said.Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam Chi-yuen said the government was looking at ways to enhance the accuracy of the electoral register and to make it easier for the office to verify information.
“The [office] may consider building up a database of buildings … so it will be easier to spot wrong addresses or addresses that do not exist,” Tam said.
He said it was hoped some of the measures could be adopted before the Legco election next year.
Legislator Ann Chiang Lai-wan, of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said: “The proposed measures would make the voter registration system so troublesome that they would discourage people from registering as voters. And this will defeat the government’s policy.”
Labour Party lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan added: “It is difficult, especially for young people, to provide proof of address.”
Lee also said the idea of requiring a complainant to attend hearings was “to punish those who report malpractice”.
READ MORE: Hong Kong elderly sign up in droves to vote in district council elections
The existing registration system is based on the principle of honest declaration. There are two related sets of offences.
According to the Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance, the maximum penalty for providing false information in voter registration is a HK$5,000 fine and six months’ imprisonment.
And under the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance, anyone who knowingly gives an electoral officer false or misleading information faces a jail term of up to seven years and a HK$500,000 fine.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1862956/fight-fake-vote-hong-kong-may-build-database-tens-thousands
