Nominations for 33 vacancies in the 17 subsectors of the Election Committee will open from April 9 to 15, the Registration & Electoral Office says. The vacancies are being filled to pave way for the election of a new Chief Executive on July 10.

Of the 33 vacancies, 27 in 16 subsectors will be filled in by-elections on May 1. The remaining six in the Religious Subsector will be filled by supplementary nominations.

The distribution of vacancies in the 16 subsectors is: Accountancy (2), Finance (1), Industrial (First) (2), Industrial (Second) (1), Import & Export (1), Textiles & Garment (1), Higher Education (1), Engineering (2), Architectural, Surveying & Planning (1), Legal (2), Agriculture & Fisheries (2), Labour (1), Chinese Medicine (1), Hong Kong & Kowloon District Councils (3), Heung Yee Kuk (4), and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (2).

For the Religious Subsector, the number of members to be nominated by each of the religious bodies is: Chinese Muslim Cultural & Fraternal Association (1), Hong Kong Christian Council (1), Hong Kong Taoist Association (3), and Confucian Academy (1).

Nomination forms and updated guidelines are available at www.gov.hk/reo. Polls will be held on May 1 for all the subsectors in which the number of validly nominated candidates exceeds the number of Election Committee members to be returned.

For enquiries, call the Election Hotline at 2891 1001.