The Government gazetted the Rural Representative Election (Amendment) Bill 2022 today.

The bill seeks to introduce the requirement for a person elected as a rural representative to sign a written oath to uphold the Basic Law and bear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region before holding office, and to provide for the consequences of declining or neglecting to take the oath or breaching the oath.

The bill also includes technical amendments relating to the inspection of omissions list and interpretation of election advertisement to align with the arrangements for other public elections.

The Government said the legislative exercise seeks to refine the arrangements for the rural representative election in the run-up to the next rural ordinary election in early 2023.

The refinements being proposed, including the oath-taking requirement, are similar to those adopted for other public elections overseen by the Electoral Affairs Commission, it added.

The bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council for the first and second readings on May 18. The Government will fully complement the work of LegCo in scrutinising the bill with a view to securing its early passage.