EAC Chairman Urges Hong Kong Voters to Participate in 2025 Legislative Council Election Amid Ongoing Challenges

2025-12-07 13:45 Last Updated At：13:58

Electors urged to vote in Legislative Council General Election today

The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:

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Electors urged to vote in Legislative Council General Election today Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

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Electors urged to vote in Legislative Council General Election today Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC), Mr Justice David Lok, called on electors to vote in the 2025 Legislative Council General Election (LCGE) today (December 7).

Mr Justice David Lok, along with EAC members Professor Daniel Shek and Mr Bernard Man, SC, visited the Central Command Centre and the Statistical Information Centre of the LCGE. They also inspected the Near Boundary Polling Station (NBPS) at Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 2, and the Ordinary Polling Stations located in different districts respectively this morning. Mr Justice Lok said the EAC observed that the operation of the polling stations is smooth.

As at 12.30pm, 536 527 electors for geographical constituencies (GCs) have voted, bringing the accumulative turnout rate to 12.99 per cent.

Mr Justice Lok said, "A fire broke out in Tai Po at the end of last month. Like all Hong Kong citizens, the EAC witnessed the affected residents losing their loved ones and homes, and we are deeply saddened. Yet we believe that in this difficult time, it is even more important that electors should cast their votes in the LCGE to fulfill their civic responsibility in a serious manner and elect a new term of Legislative Council Members for them to carry out their crucial functions and meet the overall interests of Hong Kong.

"I appeal to all electors across Hong Kong to make use of their sacred votes to elect the new Legislative Council and build a better Hong Kong that we call home together."

The polling hours for the Ordinary Polling Stations, the polling station of the Election Committee constituency (ECC), the three Dedicated Polling Stations set up at police stations and the NBPSs will be from 7.30am to 11.30pm. For the Dedicated Polling Stations set up at penal institutions, for security reasons, the polling hours will be from 9am to 4pm. For the Designated Polling Stations (namely the Civil Servant Designated Polling Stations, Hospital Authority Healthcare Staff Designated Polling Stations and Ethnic Minorities Designated Polling Stations) and Outreach Polling Stations for Residential Care Homes under the pilot arrangements, their polling hours are from 8.30am to 9.30pm, and from 8.30am to 6.30pm respectively.

Electors can check the approximate waiting time of Ordinary Polling Stations, the ECC polling station and NBPSs on the election website (www.elections.gov.hk). Depending on the waiting time and their schedule, electors can make their own arrangements on when to vote.

The ballot is autonomous and secret. Electors must mark their ballot papers on their own in the voting compartment. If in need, electors may ask for assistance from the polling staff. Electors must not disturb others during voting, nor use electronic communication devices, take photographs or make audio or video recordings in the polling stations. Canvassing, distribution of election advertisements or displaying propaganda materials are also prohibited inside polling stations.

After the close of poll, a majority of the Ordinary Polling Stations will be changed to counting stations immediately for the counting of votes of GCs. For small polling stations of which less than 500 electors are assigned to vote, Dedicated Polling Stations, the ECC polling station, NBPSs, Designated Polling Stations and Outreach Polling Stations for Residential Care Homes, the GC ballot papers will be delivered to the ballot paper sorting station cum consolidated main counting stations at Kowloon Park Sports Centre for counting. The ballot boxes of all functional constituencies (FCs) and the ECC will be delivered to the Central Counting Station at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) for counting.

For the GCs, upon completion of the count, the Presiding Officer of each counting station will make known the counting results to the candidates or their agents present. Upon verification of the counting results of all counting stations in a GC, the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) will notify the Returning Officer (RO) at the Central Counting Station at HKCEC of the overall counting result for the RO to sign and declare the election results at the Media Centre. As for the FCs and ECC, once the counting of votes is completed and the election results are verified by the Statistical Information Centre, the ROs will notify the present candidates and their agents of the counting results, and sign and declare the election results at the counting zone of the Central Counting Station. The election results will be announced again by the ROs on stage of the Media Centre.

Mr Justice Lok and the two EAC members will inspect different polling stations this afternoon to see for themselves the electoral affairs.

The REO's hotline at 2891 1001 will be in service until midnight to answer enquiries relating to the LCGE. A complaints hotline at 2827 7251 will also operate until midnight to handle complaints about breaches of electoral rules and guidelines.

Hourly voter turnouts and election results will be available on the election website.

New Tax Reserve Certificates Interest Rate Drops to 0.1500% Starting April 8, 2026.

Interest rate for Tax Reserve Certificates adjusted

The Inland Revenue Department announced today (April 2) that starting from April 8, 2026, the new annual rate of interest payable on Tax Reserve Certificates will be 0.1500 per cent against the current rate of 0.2417 per cent, i.e. the new rate will be $0.0125 per month per $100.

Tax Reserve Certificates bear simple interest, and interest is calculated monthly (including part of a month) from the date of purchase to the date of payment of tax. Interest is only credited when certificates are used to pay tax, and no interest is due where the principal value of a certificate is repaid to its holder.

The rate of interest payable on Tax Reserve Certificates is reviewed every month based on the average prevailing interest rate for the 12-month time deposit for $100,000 to $499,999 offered by the three note-issuing banks.

The new rate will apply to all certificates purchased on or after April 8, 2026. Certificates purchased before April 8, 2026, will continue to earn interest at the rates prevailing on their respective purchase dates. Below is a summary of the interest rates for the past periods: