Measure for Election of Deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China to the Fourteenth National People's Congress

Article 1

The Measure is enacted in accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and the provisions of the Election Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses of the People's Republic of China and in view of the actual conditions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Article 2

The election of deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Fourteenth National People's Congress shall be under the direction of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Article 3

The number of deputies to be elected from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Fourteenth National People's Congress is 36.

Article 4

Deputies to be elected from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the National People's Congress shall be Chinese citizens among the residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region who have reached the age of 18.

Article 5

The Council for Election of Deputies to the Fourteenth National People's Congress shall be formed in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Election Council shall be composed of the members with Chinese citizenship of the Election Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. However, those who have expressed their unwillingness to become members of the Election Council shall be excepted.

The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be a member of the Election Council for Deputies to the Fourteenth National People's Congress.

The name list of the members of the Election Council shall be published by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Article 6

The first meeting of the Election Council shall be convened by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, at which 19 of the Council's members shall, on the basis of the nomination made by the Council of Chairpersons of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, be elected to form a presidium. The Presidium shall elect one of its members to serve as the executive chairperson.

The Presidium shall preside over the Election Council. The executive chairperson of the Presidium shall preside over the meetings of the Presidium.

Article 7

The Election Council shall hold its plenary meeting only when more than half of its members are present.

Article 8

Members of the Election Council shall join the Council and perform their duties in their capacity as individuals.

Members of the Election Council shall attend the Council's meetings; where a member cannot attend a meeting for special reasons, he shall ask the Presidium for leave of absence in written form in advance.

No member of the Election Council may, directly or indirectly demand or accept bribes from any participants or candidates in the election, or directly or indirectly seek any other benefits, nor may he directly or indirectly try, by offering benefits, to influence the positions held by the participants or candidates in the election.

Article 9

The election date shall be determined by the Presidium of the Election Council.

Article 10

Each of the candidates for deputies to the National People's Congress shall be nominated by fifteen or more members of the Election Council. The number of candidates for deputies nominated by each member shall not be greater than 36.

The member of the Election Council who nominates another person as a candidate shall fill in a Letter for Nomination of a Candidate for Deputy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China to the Fourteenth National People's Congress.

Article 11

Any Chinese citizen from among the residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, who has reached the age of 18 and who is willing to participate in the election of deputies to the Fourteenth National People's Congress, shall obtain and fill in a Participant's Registration Form for Election of Deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China to the Fourteenth National People's Congress. Prior to the deadline for nomination, the Registration Forms filled in by the participants and the Letter for Nomination of a Candidate filled in separately by fifteen or more members of the Election Council shall be handed in.

Where a member of the Election Council participates in election, it is necessary for fifteenth or more other members of the Election Council to fill in the Letter for Nomination of a Candidate for him.

Whoever stands for the election shall declare, in the Participant's Registration Form, that he upholds the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, endorses the policy of "one country, two systems", and bears allegiance to the People's Republic of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; and that he has not received and will not receive, directly or indirectly, any form of funds in relation to the said election from any foreign institution, organization or individual. Whoever stands for the election shall be responsible for the truthfulness of his statements in the Participant's Registration Form.

Anyone who is found guilty of endangering national security by a court is disqualified for participating in the election of deputies to the National People's Congress.

Article 12

The time for nomination of candidates for deputies shall be determined by the Presidium of the Election Council.

Article 13

The Presidium of the Election Council shall publish the name list of and a brief introduction to the candidates for deputies to the Fourteenth National People's Congress and have them printed and distributed to all the members of the Election Council.

After the Presidium publishes the name list of the candidates for deputies, members of the Election Council may look up the nomination of candidates.

Before the election date, the Presidium may decide to eliminate a nominee from the list of candidates or not to include a nominee in the list after verifying that the nominee violates the declaration he made in the Participant's Registration Form as prescribed in Article 11 of this Measure or is found guilty of endangering national security by a court.

Article 14

Competitive election shall be adopted in which the number of candidates for deputies to be elected by the Election Council to the Fourteenth National People's Congress shall be greater than the number of deputies to be elected.

Article 15

Secret ballot shall be adopted by the Election Council in the election of deputies to the Fourteenth National People's Congress.

When an election is held by the Election Council, if the number of votes cast is greater than the number of voters, the election is null and void; if it is equal to or less than the number of voters, the election is valid.

A ballot is valid if the number of candidates voted for is equal to the number of deputies to be elected; it shall be nullified if the number of candidates voted for is greater or less than the number of deputies to be elected.

Article 16

Candidates for deputies shall be elected only if they have each obtained more than half of the votes cast by the members of the Election Council.

Where the number of candidates who have obtained more than half of the votes exceeds the number of deputies to be elected, the ones who have obtained more votes shall be elected. Where the number of votes for more candidates is tied, making it impossible to determine the ones elected, another ballot shall be conducted for these candidates to resolve the tie, and the ones who have obtained more votes shall be elected.

If the number of elected deputies who have obtained more than half of the votes cast is less than the number of deputies to be elected, another election shall be held to make up the difference. When another election is held, the name list of candidates shall be determined by the Presidium in the order of the number of votes they have obtained in the first ballot and according to the proportion for competitive election, the number of candidates shall be 20 to 50 percent greater than that of deputies to be elected. If only one deputy is to be elected, the number of candidates shall be two. When another election is held, the candidates for deputies shall be elected only if they have each obtained more than half of the votes cast by the members of the Election Council.

Article 17

The Election Council shall have one chief scrutineer and a number of scrutineers, who shall be nominated by the Presidium from among the members of the Election Council who are not candidates for deputies, subject to approval by the Election Council. The chief scrutineer and other scrutineers shall supervise the distribution, casting and counting of votes.

Article 18

Canvassing shall be forbidden on the day of election.

The Election Council holds a plenary meeting for voting. A ballot box is furnished to each section of seats at the meeting venue, and members of the Election Council shall cast their votes into the boxes designed for their sections of seats respectively.

When vote-casting begins, the chief scrutineer and other scrutineers shall cast their votes first, and then the members of the Presidium and the other members of the Election Council shall cast their votes in order.

No member of the Election Council shall cast their votes by proxy.

Article 19

When vote-counting is completed, the chief scrutineer shall report the result to the Presidium. The Presidium shall announce the result of the election and submit it to the Credentials Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Where the Presidium of the Election Council finds, before submitting the election results to the Credentials Committee, that a successful candidate has violated the declaration he made in the Participant's Registration Form as prescribed in Article 11 of this Measure or is found guilty of endangering national security by a court, the Presidium shall submit a report on the matter along with the election results. The Credentials Committee shall, after verifying that there is such a violation, submit a report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on confirming that the election of the aforesaid successful candidate is null and void.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall, on the basis of the report of the Credentials Committee, either affirm the qualification of the deputies or, in the event of a violation prescribed in the preceding paragraph, confirm that the election of the successful candidate in question is null and void，and shall publish the name list of the qualified deputies.

Article 20

The Presidium of the Election Council shall accept complaints about the election of deputies to the Fourteenth National People's Congress and transmit the complaints to the Credentials Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for handling.

Article 21

Deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Fourteenth National People's Congress may submit their resignations to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which shall announce the resignations upon its decision to accept them.

Article 22

If any deputy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Fourteenth National People's Congress violates the declaration he made in the Participant's Registration Form as prescribed in Article 11 of this Measure or is found guilty of endangering national security by a court, the Credentials Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall make a report proposing the disqualification of the deputy in question to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall, based on the report, confirm and announce the disqualification.

Article 23

When the post of a deputy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Fourteenth National People's Congress becomes vacant for one reason or another, one of the candidates who have failed in the election of deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Fourteenth National People's Congress may fill the vacancy in the order of the number of votes they have obtained; however, the number of votes obtained by the candidate who is to fill the vacancy shall not be less than one-third of all the votes. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall, on the basis of the report of the Credentials Committee, affirm the qualification of the deputies for filling the vacancies and publish the name list of the deputies for filling the vacancies.

Where the number of votes for some candidates who have failed in the election of deputies to the Fourteenth National People's Congress is tied, making it impossible to determine the order of the candidates for filling the vacancies of the deputies' post, the Presidium shall decide to conduct another ballot for these candidates to resolve the tie and determine the order according to the number of votes the candidates have obtained.