Figures suggest few elections needed for EC seats

Elections will likely not be needed for the majority of seats on the Election Committee, with the number of names put forward roughly matching the places available as the nomination period comes to an end.

Of the 1,500 seats on the body, 982 were originally designated to be returned through elections, with the rest to be filled either automatically or through nominations.

By Wednesday evening, the government had received 993 nomination forms for candidates, with only six subsectors receiving more applications than seats available.

There were more bids than seats for the insurance, social welfare, labour, medical and health services, architectural, and education subsectors.

For many other subsectors, the number of applications was exactly the same as the number of places available, while in some subsectors, there were fewer nominations than seats up for grabs.

The deadline for nominations to be submitted is 5pm on Thursday.

Would-be candidates still need to be vetted by a newly formed panel of government officials and pro-Beijing figures, with the results to be announced on August 26.

Any elections required will take place on September 19.

Those who make it onto the committee will not only choose Hong Kong’s next chief executive in March 2022, but will also pick 40 of the 90 Legco members to be selected this December.