A local businessman discovered his voter registration details had been altered without his knowledge after what he claims is a fake document was submitted and approved by the city’s electoral body, Ming Pao reported on Friday.
Poon, a Pok Fu Lam resident, who had listed himself under the Southern District constituency, was put under the Central Western district, apparently without his knowledge.
Poon originally submitted his form to the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) in May. He claims the new, “forged” form had switched his correspondence address from his Pok Fu Lam home to his office in Sheung Wan, thus changing the constitutency to which he belongs. He only noticed the change after Ming Pao’s investigation.
After retrieving a copy of the supposedly altered form, Poon found that it contained multiple errors, including a forged signature, an English name which he has never used, and unfilled boxes. Other details, such as his HKID number, were correct.
He stressed that he has never submitted such a form and said he was astonished by the electoral body’s “unprofessionalism” in accepting the forged application.
“I never expected this would happen in Hong Kong”, Poon told Ming Pao.
“If [Ming Pao] never investigated in this, the REO may have never known either”, he added.
A spokesperson from the REO confirmed that the application form was not submitted by the businessman and the electoral body has referred the case to the police.
The REO takes all cases of voter registration and change of details seriously, the spokesperson added.
Yet another Ming Pao investigation has revealed that three people have listed Central’s Shangri-La Hotel as their correspondence address in the voter registry. It was reported that the three are affiliated to a pro-Beijing lobby group and that their registrations were approved.
Ivan Choy, a senior lecturer at CUHK’s Department of Government and Public Administration, said that a mass alteration of voter details could skew the election results and bring about serious consequences.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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