#VoteCountingControversy
Re-count not granted despite citizens’ multiple requests for Yau Tong West Constituency

(25 Nov)The Yau Tong West constituency started counting votes at 11:15pm on November 24. The treatment of problematic ballots was also controversial, causing an uproar among citizens on site. They chanted numerous times “against the rules, against the laws,” and demanded “re-count”.

During the ordeal, Returning Officer TSE Ling-chun of Kwun Tong district was once on site. He suggested that the public and the candidates could file an election petition if they had any complaints, but didn't say another word after that. Presiding Officer MAK Pui-lin together with TSE Ling-chun and other people left the counting station again at around 5:07am. Counting Area was manned by staff in blue shirt. When it was nearly 5:44am, two riot police officers, the Presiding Officer and other people re-entered the counting area. Presiding Officer did not explain the reason why riot police stayed inside.

The standoff lasted until early morning. Presiding Officer started re-counting the problematic ballots amid yelling, and went behind closed doors with a lawyer in red shirt and others. After much discussions, Presiding Officer faced the observers on site and declared that the Yau Tong West constituency was won by Candidate No. 1, LUI Tung Hai of Positive Synergy, with 3,388 votes, and Candidate No. 2, Michael WONG Siu Nam, a community development officer of Yau Tong West, got 3,042 votes and was defeated. As for the the request of re-count by the citizens on site, she said there were not enough invalid ballots to overcome the difference and, hence, no need to consider a re-count.

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#RecountVoteRejected #ProblematicResult #YauTongWest

#VoteCountingControversy

[15:00 Lam Tin Instant] Chaotic District Council election vote counting at Lam Tin’s J19 Constituency

(25 Nov) Pro-democracy candidate Desmond Fung Tak-sum (No. 2) had originally defeated Kan Ming-tung of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (No. 1) with a small number of votes. However, the Electoral Officer later declared some problematic ballot papers valid, including one with three stamps and another one with a stamp on the profile of the candidate. After including these ballots, candidate No. 1 won with 4,080 votes.

This caused an uproar among residents at the scene as they believed the Electoral Officer had no objective standard in defining between valid and invalid ballots. Riot police later entered the polling station to escort the transport of the ballot boxes to the Registration and Electoral Office. Fung was extremely dissatisfied over the vote-counting procedure and the improper handling by the election officer, which led to a chaotic counting process.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B5R6_VGhai2/?igshid=6cltu169iwk3

#LamTin #ProblematicBallot #ChaoticCounting