"I also hope in the light of more intense competition which we all expect for the forthcoming elections, we will be able to select candidates through this open and fair democratic process," Lam said.

In the LegCo election on Sept. 7, 30 members will be returned by geographical constituencies and another 30 by functional constituencies, according to the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini- constitution.

To run for a seat in a geographical constituency or a functional constituency, a nominee must be a registered geographical constituency elector aged 21 or above, and have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for the three years immediately before his or her nomination, according to the guidelines on the 2008 LegCo election.

The nominee for the geographical constituency must be a Chinese citizen who is a Hong Kong permanent resident with no right of abode in a foreign country.

However, the candidature in 12 functional constituencies is open to Hong Kong permanent residents who are not Chinese nationals or who have the right of abode in a foreign country. These constituencies are: legal; accountancy; engineering; architectural, surveying and planning; real estate and construction; tourism; commercial (first); industrial (first); finance; financial services; import and export; and insurance.

For the functional constituency election, the nominee must also be a registered elector for, or have a substantial connection with, the relevant functional constituency.

For the geographical constituency election, each list of candidates has to be subscribed by 100 registered electors of the constituency concerned and a deposit of 50,000 HK dollars (about 6, 410 U.S. dollars) must be paid.

For the functional constituency election, each nominee must be subscribed by 10 registered electors of the constituency concerned and pay a deposit of 25,000 HK dollars (about 3,205 U.S. dollars).

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2008)