Election-expense limits will rise 5% when the Maximum Amount of Election Expenses (Legislative Council Election) Regulation is gazetted May 16, the Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau says.

The Legislative Council Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 5) Order 2008 will also be gazetted on the same day, lifting the specified subsidy rate of financial assistance to candidates from $10 per vote to $11.

The regulation and order will be tabled at LegCo May 21. The new specified subsidy rate and election expense limits will come into effect July 18 and apply to this year's LegCo election.

The bureau wants to increase the election expense limits for geographical and functional constituency elections by 5%, considering the 6.9% population growth since 1998.

It said the specified subsidy rate should rise from $10 per vote to $11 per vote to reflect the 9.2% inflation since 2004.