The Electoral Affairs Commission today launched a public consultation on the proposed boundaries and names of geographical constituencies for the 2020 Legislative Council General Election, to be held in the third quarter of next year.

The commission recommended adopting the existing boundaries of the five geographical constituencies and allocating the 35 elected seats according to the projected population in each constituency.

It proposed to allocate six seats each for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon West, five seats for Kowloon East, and nine seats each for New Territories West and New Territories East, the same as for the 2016 LegCo Election.

At a press conference, the commission’s Chairman Barnabas Fung said the number of geographical constituencies is preset by the Legislative Council Ordinance.

He said the commission also examined other options for adjusting the existing geographical constituency boundaries, and that the consultation document showed New Territories West should have 10 seats.

“But there is another preset in the LegCo ordinance which is the number of seats in each geographical constituency shall not be less than five, but not more than nine. So we could, under the law, allocate only nine seats to New Territories West.

“When we are checking the deviation permissible range, it is still within plus or minus 15% of the population range. So although we have only allocated nine seats to New Territories West, it has completely complied with the criteria under the law.

“Hence, we have recommended using the existing boundaries and allocation, which in fact, is in compliance with all the statutory requirements. And as I have stated that our working principle is if it is to satisfy the law, we would not on our own motion do any changes to the boundaries.” 

People can submit their views by post, fax or email before the consultation ends on June 6.

The commission will hold a public forum at Lai Chi Kok Community Hall on May 16.