Director of Home Affairs Pamela Tan urged all residents of the New Territories to exercise their right to vote in the 2003 Village Representative elections.

The elections start tomorrow and run until August 17.

"There are about 160,000 registered electors and more than 1,600 candidates in the coming village representative elections," she said.

This is the first time village representative polls have been conducted under the Village Representative Elections Ordinance enacted earlier this year.

Mrs Tan said that this was a historic event. As residents of the New Territories are very interested in the affairs of their villages, they should actively participate in the polls.

The polls will be conducted from noon to 7pm every Saturday and Sunday for six consecutive weekends until August 17, in respective villages.

Electors should bring along the relevant polling notice and their identity documents to the designated polling station for their village.

Mrs Tan said the Home Affairs Department places great importance on the village representative elections.

With the supervision of the Electoral Affairs Commission and assistance from other Government departments, she added, the department would ensure that the elections are held in an "open, fair and honest manner".