Hong Kong prepares to hold District Council Election despite raging protests
Moscow/Sputnik: The special administrative region of Hong Kong, which has been plunged into political and social unrest for the past six months over a controversial extradition bill that was officially withdrawn in October, will hold the District Council Ordinary Election on Nov 24 for the sixth District Councils of Hong Kong.
There are 18 local district councils supervised by the Hong Kong Government's Home Affairs Bureau and comprised of a total of 479 seats.
According to the nation's Overseas Public Relations Sub-division Information Services Department press release, approximately 4.13 million voters will be able to cast their ballots at 615 ordinary and 23 dedicated polling stations across the island to elect 452 council representatives among 1,090 registered candidates.
"The polling hours for the ordinary polling stations and the three dedicated polling stations set up at police stations will be from 0730 hrs to 2230 hrs [2330 to 1430 GMT]. For security reasons, 20 dedicated polling stations set up in penal institutions will open from 0900 hrs to 1600 hrs [0100 to 0800 GMT] for polling," the statement read.
After the voting ends, most of the polling stations will be turned into counting stations with designated areas for the public and media to observe the vote-counting process, according to the press release.
All the election-related statistics, including the hourly turnout rates, the total number of voters and the election results will be issued on the Information Services Department's Government News and Media Information System.
Hong Kong has been facing a wave of rallies against the now-withdrawn extradition bill since June.
The protests eventually escalated into violent confrontations between demonstrators and the police.
Beijing has reiterated that the situation in Hong Kong is a direct result of foreign interference in China's domestic affairs and expressed full support for the local authorities' actions.
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