The Independent Committee of Experts for the Review on the Management, Planning & Conduct of Elections has made 13 recommendations on improving practical arrangements for future elections in its report submitted to the acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang.

Committee Chairman Daniel Tse said: "We do not find any fundamental or major problems with the existing electoral system and procedure. Instead, the chaos was the result of a number of implementation problems."

The committee, with Philip Chen, Daniel Lai and Herbert Tsoi as members, was appointed by the Chief Executive in December amid public concern about the problems on the Legislative Council polling day on September 12.

During the review, the committee met five individuals and seven organisations. Thirty-seven written submissions were received, including those from political parties and polling staff. It tried to establish what went wrong on that day.

Integrity, independence upheld

The committee identified and examined the major problems leading to the chaos, and reviewed them from different management and operational perspectives to find the major causes.

Based on that assessment, the committee noted the election's integrity was upheld and recognised the efforts of staff and the importance of the independence of the electoral process.

However, the committee concluded the current set-up and mode of operation of the Electoral Affairs Commission and the Registration & Electoral Office is not adequate to cope with their roles and duties, and staff were not alert and meticulous enough when drawing up election arrangements and handling the problems.

The committee found the set-up of the central command centre was inadequate to cope with crisis. Training of and supervision of polling and counting staff, as well as the transparency of and public relations on the electoral arrangements were also inadequate.

13 recommendations

To improve the practical arrangements for future elections, the committee recommends:

* strengthening the set-up and mode of operation of the commission and the office and the check

and balance mechanism;

* re-organising the set-up of the central command centre;

* beefing up contingency plans;

* establishing an effective reporting system and a crisis management system;

* enhancing staff training and related support;

* ensuring adequate preparation especially before adoption of any new features;

* exploring the feasibility of computerising the polling and counting process;

* establishing an inspection system over the operation of polling; and,

counting stations;

* streamlining the compilation of statistical returns;

* reviewing the counting and re-counting arrangements;

* enhancing related civic education for general public and briefing for candidates and agents;

* regular updates on the progress of the poll; and,

* reviewing related legislation to see whether there is room to enhance the clarity of relevant provisions, taking into account the flexibility required by the authorities concerned for handling unexpected emergency situations.

Mr Tse said: "The conclusions drawn are lessons which all parties involved should learn. We hope our findings and recommendations help avoid similar incidents in future."