New guidelines: Justice Woo Kwok-hing (centre) introduces the proposed guidelines for the Legislative Council elections.

The Electoral Affairs Commission has released a set of proposed guidelines for the Legislative Council elections which are open for public consultation until April 20.

The September 12 polls will return 60 members to LegCo, 30 by Geographic Constituencies and 30 by Functional Constituencies.

Nominations will be accepted from July 22 to August 4. Potential candidates can seek free legal advice from the Nominations Advisory Committees to find out if they qualify for candidature between now and July 21.

The nomination of a Geographic Constituencies candidate list must have 100, and no more than 200, subscribers. The nomination of a Functional Constituencies candidate must have 10, and no more than 20, subscribers.

The guidelines give details about the new measures on printing particulars relating to candidates on ballot papers, including personal photographs, and names and emblems of supporting organisations.

April 1 deadline set for election emblems

As only those names and emblems properly registered with the commission are allowed to be printed on ballot papers, all interested parties are reminded to submit relevant applications by April 1.

The commission recommends the counting of Geographic Constituency votes be carried out at individual polling stations.

For Functional Constituency votes that can be cast at any polling station for Geographic Constituency polls, the commission has proposed counting the votes at a central counting station.

Broadcasters are reminded to observe the "equal time" and "no unfair advantage" rules when they run constituency-based or party-based election-related programmes.

The proposed guidelines also set out the operational details of the newly introduced financial assistance scheme for candidates standing in the polls.

Open forum set for April 2

For people who want to express their views on the guidelines, they can join an open forum in the commission's conference room at 2.30pm on April 2.

Written representations should reach the Electoral Affairs Commission at 10/F, Harbour Building, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai by April 20. Submissions by fax (2511 1682) or email (eacenq@reo.gov.hk) are acceptable.