The Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election has urged local media to ensure a fair and objective coverage of each campaign team in the upcoming election for the Legislative Assembly.

The updated Legislative Assembly Election Law clearly specifies the definition of campaigning; the Electoral Affairs Commission expects media outlets – based on their own professionalism – to be able to make a distinction between a news report and election propaganda, said the Chairman of the Commission, Mr Tong Hio Fong.

Mr Tong made the remarks on Wednesday (8 March) during a meeting with more than 30 representatives from local media outlets reporting, respectively, in Chinese-, Portuguese- and English-language.

The revised Legislative Assembly Election Law states that election propaganda aims to draw public attention to a particular candidate or candidates; it also aims to encourage voters – in an explicit or implicit way – to vote or not vote for a particular candidate or candidates.

Mr Tong recalled that – according to the law – no election propaganda is allowed between the date of publishing of the official list of accepted candidates and the official date for the start of the campaigning period.

Mr Tong said that media organisations should consider formulating internal guidelines to serve as reference for staff covering the election.

In addition, Mr Tong said media outlets should delete comments from their online social platforms and websites that contain unlawful messages related to the election process.

The Commission respects the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech – both protected by the Basic Law and the Legislative Assembly Election Law. The exercise of those freedoms, however, should not contravene the Legislative Assembly Election Law, added Mr Tong.

The Commission is to launch a telephone hotline and a dedicated email account for media enquiries relating to the 2017 Legislative Assembly Election.