A lawmaker has expressed hope that the counting of votes in the city's elections will become a fully electronic process amid a likelihood that ballots for trade-based seats in the legislature's upcoming election may no longer be tallied by hand.

That possibility emerged last week with legislators passing a bill to let election officials use machines when counting ballots for functional constituency seats in December's Legislative Council poll. Electronic counting has already been adopted for the Election Committee constituency.

DAB lawmaker Brave Chan said on the RTHK programme "In the Chamber" that hand-counting could take up to 24 hours in the past and that the use of technology in tallying votes is a trusted method.

"Electronic vote counting will not affect the fairness, impartiality and openness of elections," he said.

"We ultimately hope electronic vote counting can not only be used in functional constituencies but also for seats filled by direct elections.

"Because most of the ballots come from direct elections, so the votes should all be counted electronically."

On the proposed inclusion of Lok Ma Chau Loop in geographical constituency for the upcoming polls, Chan hailed the administration for planning ahead.

He said elected lawmakers would be ready to serve residents there when people eventually move into the area.

The authorities earlier unveiled plans to make the area, which is projected to be unpopulated until the middle of this year, part of the New Territories North constituency in December's general election.