The Government is doing its utmost in preparing for the Legislative Council Election, Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip said today.

Mr Nip made the statement after attending a special meeting of the LegCo Finance Committee.

He said the Electoral Affairs Commission and the Registration & Electoral Office are carrying out the preparatory work, such as voter registration, consultation on guidelines for election-related activities, making arrangements for recruiting polling staff and finding polling stations.

"All this preparatory work is ongoing. We are doing our utmost to do it."

Mr Nip added that the Government is monitoring the epidemic’s impact on society, public health risks and the possible effect on the election.

"So it is too early to say. We will monitor it closely and make an assessment so that we are in a position to do the steps about the gazettal of the polling date.

"But it’s clear that the Legislative Council Ordinance has set out the timeline including the time range that the election should be held, the period of nomination and time allowed for campaigns, etc."