2015-11-23 HKT 07:05
1.47 million votes were cast in the 2015 District Council elections -- a record high. Photo: Reuters
A record 1.47 million voters cast ballots in Sunday's District Council elections, representing around 47 percent of the electorate.
Both the number of people who voted, and the turnout rate, were record highs.
The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Justice Barnabas Fung, said the process of counting the votes took around six-and-a-half hours – longer than usual – because 265,000 votes were cast compared with 2011.
He added that a number of re-counts also had to be conducted.
The final result was out by 5:55am.
Fung said he was satisfied that the polls were open, fair, and honest. He also reported that the voting process was generally smooth, although the number of voters was overstated by 1,000 at one constituency in Kwai Tsing. The mistake is believed to be a calculation error, and was detected during the vote-count.
A recount was ordered, and the mistake had no impact on the outcome.
The Chief Executive, CY Leung, said on Sunday that he was pleased to see the enthusiasm. The highest turnouts were in the Tsuen Wan, Southern and Sham Shui Po Districts, while the lowest was in Tuen Mun.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1225283-20151123.htm
