'Objectives met in high-quality poll'

The district council election was a "high-quality election" and people should not play down its success, according to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu.

Lee congratulated the 264 newly elected councillors comprising 88 directly elected seats and 176 from district committees constituencies, and thanked people who voted and the staff who made the polls possible.

"This was a high-quality election that met the objectives of being conducted in a fair, just, clean, safe and orderly manner overall, fully demonstrating an election culture of excellence and the superiority of the reformed system," he said.

Lee likened the glitch to unexpected weather changes or power outage, and said election authorities activated plan B in 15 minutes.

"The first 15 minutes was to restore normal operation of the system and the manual issuing of ballots was activated in the next 15 minutes, which were set out in the plan," he said, expecting the Electoral Affairs Commission's investigation task force to identify the causes as soon as possible.

The councillors will begin their four-year term on January 1 and Lee hopes they will focus on local affairs.

"This will enable the government to better keep tabs of the districts, facilitate the planning and promotion of district services that better meet the needs of citizens, and improve governance at the district level," he said.

Lee said the government will appoint 179 district council members as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Liaison Office and state media all praised the election as successful.

In a statement, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office stated its five expectations for the elected councillors. The office hoped they can contribute to the full implementation of the one country, two systems, solve long-existing social problems, respond to citizens' needs, assist the government in uniting the people and serve their communities.

A Liaison Office spokesman believed the new district councils will live up to the community's support and voters' expectations and return to their positioning under the Basic Law as advisory and service bodies that are not organs of political power.

"They should be able to build a bridge of communication between the government and citizens, and open up the last kilometer of the HKSAR to improve the governance system, capabilities and efficiency," he said.

State media CCTV noted that it was the first district council election after its revamp and that "Hong Kong has taken another solid step on the road to good governance."

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com