HONG KONG – The Registration and Electoral Affairs Office has ruled that the nominations of all 1,115 candidates running for next month’s 2026 Election Committee Subsector Ordinary Elections are valid.

The decision followed determinations made by the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee (CERC) for the Nov 22 polls in which 982 members will be returned by the EC Subsector Ordinary Elections.

Voting will not be required for five subsectors where 259 candidates will be returned uncontested, the REO said in a statement on Friday.

The education, sports, performing arts, culture and publication sectors are uncontested, as well as associations of Chinese fellow townsmen, labor, and representatives of Hong Kong members of relevant national organizations.

A total of 856 validly-nominated candidates from 31 contested subsectors will compete for 723 seats in the elections.

In addition, the CERC, chaired by Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki, also determined that 341 registrations of ex-officio EC members as valid.

Opening on Oct 7, the nomination period for the ECSS Ordinary Elections closed Oct 20.

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The Electoral Affairs Commission will hold a briefing session for candidates on Tuesday to familiarize them with the electoral arrangements and various regulations.

“Five ordinary polling stations will be set up on the polling day, and the combined voting arrangement will continue to be adopted, such as a subsector voter who’s also an authorized representative of another subsector being able to cast two votes at the same polling station,” a spokesman for the REO said.

The polling hours for the ordinary polling stations are from 9 am to 6 pm on Nov 22.

According to Annex I and Annex II of the HKSAR Basic Law, the Election Committee, composed of 1,500 members, shall be responsible for electing the chief executive designate and part of the members of the HKSAR's Legislative Council (LegCo). The Election Committee shall also be responsible for nominating candidates for the chief executive and LegCo members.