HONG KONG – Anyone who continues to disrupt vote counting of the Legislative Council election will be removed by staff or police, Hong Kong’s election watchdog said on Thursday.

The counting work will be immediately suspended if there are people clamoring in the counting stations, and it will not resume until order is restored, the Electoral Affairs Commission said in announcing the election guidelines.

Hong Kong’s Legislative Council election is scheduled for Sept 6 this year. The city has more than 4.45 million registered voters, about 320,000 people more than last year.

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The EAC said the elderly, the disabled and pregnant women will be given a seat ... but they will not have the priority to vote ahead of others for the sake of fairness and equality

The EAC attributed disorder at certain counting stations during last year’s District Council election to insufficient access to information explaining how the validity of questionable ballot papers was determined. The watchdog pledged to display more samples in the public area of the stations in September.

The coronavirus epidemic presents challenges for the September election, where large numbers of people will necessarily gather in one location. Apart from concerns over social distancing on the polling day, returnees from overseas are still required to complete a 14-day home quarantine, which would add to the difficulties for them to vote.

In response to the suggestion of adopting an electronic mode of ballot distribution, the EAC said it is not feasible to apply it to the LegCo election in September, citing efficiency, data security, privacy protection and public confidence.

But it added that the Registration and Electoral Office is planning to implement electronic poll registration in the Election Committee Subsector Elections in 2021, an election that determines who is eligible to vote for the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

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The EAC also said the elderly, the disabled and pregnant women will be given a seat while waiting to cast their ballots, but they will not have the priority to vote ahead of others for the sake of fairness and equality.

Some senior residents reportedly gave up on voting due to long queues in last year’s District Council elections.