Article 15 Secret ballot shall be adopted by the Election Council in the election of deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress.

When an election is held by the Election Council, if the number of votes cast is greater than the number of voters, the election shall be null and void; if it is equal to or less than the number of voters, the election shall be valid.

A ballot shall be valid if the number of candidates voted for is equal to the number of deputies to be elected; it shall be nullified if the number of candidates voted for is greater or less than the number deputies to be elected.

Article 16 Candidates for deputies shall be elected only if they have each obtained more than half of the votes cast by the members of the Election Council.

Where the number of candidates who have obtained more than half to the votes exceeds the number of deputies to be elected, the ones who have obtained more votes shall be elected. Where the number of votes for more candidates is tied, making it impossible to determine the ones elected, another balloting shall be conducted for these candidates to resolve the tie, and the ones who have obtained more votes shall be elected.

If the number of elected deputies who have obtained more than half of the votes cast is less than the number of deputies to be elected, another election shall be held to make up the difference. When another election is held, the name list of candidates shall be determined by the Presidium in the order of the number of votes they have obtained in the first balloting and according to the proportion for competitive election that the number of candidates shall be 20 to 50 percent greater than that of deputies to be elected. If only one deputy is to be elected, the number of candidates shall be two. When another election is held, the candidates for deputies shall be elected only if they have each obtained more than half of the votes cast by the members of the Election Council.

Article 17 The Election Council shall have one chief scrutineer and a number of scrutineers, who shall be nominated by the Presidium from among the members of the Election Council who are not candidates for deputies, subject to approval by the Election Council. The chief scrutineer and other scrutineers shall supervise the distribution, casting and counting of votes.

Article 18 Canvassing votes shall be forbidden on the day of election.

A ballot box is furnished to each section of seats at the meeting place, and members of the Election Council shall cast their votes into the boxes designed for their sections of seats respectively.

When vote-casting begins, the chief scrutineer and other scrutineers shall cast their votes first, and then the members of the Presidium and the other members of the Election Council shall cast their votes in order.

No member of the Election Council shall cast their votes by proxy.

Article 19 When vote-counting is completed, the chief scrutineer shall report the result to the Presidium. The Presidium shall announce the result of the election and submit it to the Credentials Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall, on the basis of the report of the Credentials Committee, affirm the qualification of the deputies and publish the name list of the deputies.

Article 20 The presidium of the Election Council shall accept complaints about the election of deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress and transmit the complaints to the Credentials Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for handling.

Article 21 Deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Eleventh National People’s Congress may submit their resignations to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which shall announce the resignations upon its decision to accept them.

Article 22 When the post of a deputy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Eleventh National People’s Congress becomes vacant for one reason or another, one of the candidates who have failed in the election of deputies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Eleventh National People’s Congress may fill the vacancy in the order of the number of votes they have obtained; however, the number of votes obtained by the candidate who is to fill the vacancy shall not be less than one-third of all the votes. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress shall, on the basis of the report of the Credentials Committee, affirm the qualification of the deputies for filling the vacancies and publish the name list of the deputies for filling the vacancies.

Where the number of votes for some candidates who have failed in the election of deputies to the Eleventh National People’s Congress is tied, making it impossible to determine the order of the candidates for filling the vacancies of the deputies’ post, the Presidium shall decide to conduct another balloting for these candidates to resolve the tie and determine the order according to the number of votes candidate has obtained.

The English translation is for reference only and if there is any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.