This March 12, 2021 photo shows the exterior of the headquarters of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. (LI GANG / XINHUA)

HONG KONG — The nomination process for Hong Kong’s upcoming Legislative Council election ended on Friday with 154 office hopefuls.

The candidates — 35 from 10 geographical constituencies, 68 from functional constituencies, and 51 from the Election Committee constituency — submitted their nomination forms during the two-week nomination period, according to the Registration and Electoral Office of the special administrative region government.

We hope that this election will be a fair, impartial and healthy contest to elect 90 legislators who are committed to serving the people of Hong Kong.

Carrie Lam, Chief Executive, HKSAR

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Tuesday the government will arrange extensive publicity to encourage people to vote in the election.

“We hope that this election will be a fair, impartial and healthy contest to elect 90 legislators who are committed to serving the people of Hong Kong,” Lam said.

READ MORE: HK mulls voting plan for HK residents on mainland, says CE

In a special arrangement under the pandemic, Lam also revealed that the government plans to establish polling stations at the checkpoints with the Chinese mainland, allowing electors who live on the mainland to vote on SAR territory and return to the mainland without being subjected to a mandatory quarantine.

Over 4.4 million Hong Kong registered voters will select 90 new legislators on Dec 19, in the city’s second major election since the National People’s Congress approved an improvement to the SAR’s electoral system in March.

The 90 seats in the Legislative Council, increased from 70 under the revamped electoral system, are now filled in three different ways. Twenty seats are selected directly from 10 geographical constituencies around the city; 30 are picked up from 28 functional constituencies covering different professional sectors; and 40 are elected by a newly created 1,500-member Election Committee, which represents various sectors of Hong Kong. The subsector elections of the Election Committee, also the first poll under the improved electoral system, were held on Sept 19.

All applications received during the nomination process will be reviewed by the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, a new gatekeeper under the reformed electoral system.

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Earlier, John Lee Ka-chiu, who heads the committee, revealed that the results of the candidates’ eligibility shall be announced no later than Nov 26.

The CERC will decide whether the nominees comply with all the legal requirements and conditions for upholding the SAR’s Basic Law and bearing allegiance to the SAR.