Press Releases

     Following is the transcript of the remarks (English portion) by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Raymond Tam, in response to a media question after attending a public function this (December 11) afternoon:

Reporter: A delegate of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference has asked members in his sub-sector not to vote for Mr CY Leung. Is that fair to the candidate?

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs: As I have just said, I am not familiar with the details of the case that you have just referred to. I only read about it very briefly over the Internet news. In any case, I am not in a position to comment one way or the other to the legality of such a conversation or statement because it is unfair to the person concerned. But as a matter of principle, it is quite clear that under the current electoral laws and regulations that anyone who purports to support or otherwise a particular candidate, there are certain steps that he or she has to take, two major ones being that he or she should seek the consent of the candidate concerned and that if that should incur any expenditure per se, the expenditure itself would be regarded as election expenditure and therefore should be included in the election expenses. For details, one should refer to the laws and regulations and also to the election guidelines that we have publicly announced. Anyone can check that on the Internet or the website of the Registration and Electoral Office.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Sunday, December 11, 2011