The nomination period for the Legislative Council (LegCo) by-elections began Monday, but nobody submitted forms on the first day.

Given that the pro-establishment camp is snubbing the campaign by not registering any candidates, not many people are expected to enroll. As people seem to be ignoring the campaign, many expect the voter turnout rate on the May 16 polling day will be rather low.

Hoping to gain publicity, the League of Social Democrats (LSD), which joins the Civic Party in a "referendum" on democracy (with their five lawmakers having resigned from the LegCo to take part in the by-elections), continues to attack the Democratic Party (DP) and the Alliance for Universal Suffrage for keeping their distance from the campaign.

At the LegCo Finance Committee meeting Monday, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam said the by-elections would cost HK$159 million.

Lam said the estimated sum would cover staff earnings, publicity, rented venues and postal services for the candidates in all five geographical constituencies. The operational cost of a polling station, which is about HK$130,000, could be less if a geographical constituency shows a candidate without opponents.

Cheung Hok-ming, a lawmaker from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, who represents the New Territories West constituency, revealed that some rural organizations have refused to allow their schools to be used as polling stations because they oppose the "referendum" and deem the by-elections as unnecessary.

In response, Lam says that he is aware of the unhappiness among these rural groups. Nonetheless, the government will continue to communicate with them because the rural schools would help immensely during the by-elections, for which it needs an unprecedented 530 polling stations.

Chief Electoral Officer Vivian Ting added that if there are not enough polling stations for specific areas, the government would make arrangements for those affected to vote in nearby polling stations.

In the interim, Monday, the LSD urged the DP and other opposing parties to declare whether they plan to cast votes on May 16.

Political commentator Johnny Lau said that if the LSD and Civic Party act too radically, they will scare and push the "middle people" to join the other side.

(HK Edition 03/23/2010 page1)