Hong Kong Proposes Up to 3 Years Imprisonment for Encouraging Invalid Votes During Elections

[Asia Economy Reporter Sung Kiho] In Hong Kong, those who engage in 'election interference' in the future are expected to face up to three years of imprisonment.

According to Hong Kong media on the 14th, the Hong Kong legislature, the Legislative Council, conducted two readings of the 534-page "2021 Improved Electoral System Ordinance Draft" on the same day. The draft includes provisions that consider election manipulation acts such as encouraging blank votes or invalid ballots during the election period and interfering with others' voting as crimes punishable by up to three years in prison.

The Hong Kong government identified three types of "public activities" under 'election interference': ▲ expressing opinions to the public in any form such as speech, video, or email ▲ actions observable by the public such as gestures, clothing, flags, or signs ▲ distributing materials to the public in any form.

The electoral system reform draft is expected to pass by the end of next month after the third reading in the Legislative Council, from which the pro-democracy camp has all resigned. Meanwhile, the dates for Hong Kong's upcoming Chief Executive Election Committee election, Legislative Council election, and Chief Executive election have been set for September 19, December 19, and March 27 of next year, respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.