Promote the vote: Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam encourages electors to vote in the Eastern District Council by-election.

At the close of the Tsui Wan Constituency Eastern District Council by-election, 3,468 of the 7,641 registered electors had cast their ballots, a turnout of 45.39%.

Candidate Ku Kwai-yiu won the seat with 1,733 votes versus Keung Suk-man's 1,694.

After visiting the polling station this morning, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam praised the work of parties taking part in the poll, and urged electors to vote.

More involvement

District councillors are being encouraged to better serve their constituents as the Government will allow district councils more direct involvement by managing facilities such as swimming pools, libraries and sports grounds from 2008.

"Departments will have to act in accordance with the views expressed by the district councils and councillors, so long as this is within the scope of our legislative and statutory authorities, and the resources available in the respective departments," he said.

Universal suffrage

On the development of universal suffrage, Mr Lam said the Chief Executive will chair another Commission on Strategic Development meeting by September 22, to discuss models for implementing universal suffrage for the Legislative Council.

"At the moment, we are focusing very much on the specific provisions we should adopt in accordance with the Basic Law to get these models for universal suffrage implemented at some stage," he said.