Chief Executive Carrie Lam said she expects the Legislative Council General Election being held today will be efficient and people-oriented.

Mrs Lam made these remarks after casting her vote this morning, saying that the Government has not set a target for the turnout rate, but for the electoral arrangements.

“The Government has not set any target for voter turnout rate, not for this election, not for previous elections, because there is a combination of factors that will affect the voter turnout rate in any election.

“But I have set very clear targets for this Legislative Council General Election.

“One is to ensure 'patriots administering Hong Kong'. And I think that objective has been met through the design of the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee.

“The second target that I have said is, as usual, public elections in Hong Kong have to fulfil the requirements of being a fair, open, competitive and honest election. But on this occasion, I have set an additional target that it has to be very efficient. It has to be as people-oriented as possible. So we have introduced some improvement measures to the electoral arrangements.”

Mrs Lam noted that she and other government officials have stressed the objectives of improving the electoral system to the public.

“And finally, perhaps, unlike previous elections, because this is the first major LegCo election after improvements to the electoral system, I and my colleagues have been going all out to explain the basis, the rationale and the merits of this electoral system.

“And I think these three objectives will guide how we see this particular election rather than the voter turnout rate.”