399 candidates valid to run in HKSAR's District Council Ordinary Election

HONG KONG, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- The nominations of all 399 candidates seeking to run in next month's District Council Ordinary Election in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) have been deemed valid, the HKSAR government announced Friday.

The District Council Eligibility Review Committee (DCERC), in accordance with the District Councils Ordinance, reviewed all 399 nominations received during the nomination period from Oct. 17 to Oct. 30 and decided that all candidates meet the legal requirements and conditions for upholding the Basic Law of the HKSAR and bearing allegiance to the HKSAR and determined their nominations as valid.

The DCERC published a notice in the Gazette Friday with names, addresses, and candidate numbers of 399 candidates who were determined to be validly nominated in fulfillment of the legal requirement.

The District Councils (Amendment) Ordinance 2023 came into effect on July 10, enabling the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong" to also be fully implemented at the district governance level.

The seventh-term District Councils will have 470 seats, comprising 179 appointed members, 176 District Committee constituency members, 88 District Council geographical constituency members, and 27 ex-officio members. The term of office is four years.

The District Council Ordinary Election will be held on Dec. 10, 2023 to elect the 176 seats in the district committee constituencies and the 88 seats in the geographical constituencies.