Polling stations will open longer than usual and designated voting facilities will be set up for civil servants and public hospital staff in next month's Legislative Council elections.

Those are among the new arrangements for the upcoming polls unveiled by the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) on Friday.

According to the EAC, polling stations will open for 16 hours – from 7.30am to 11.30pm – on December 7.

That's two hours longer than in previous elections.

Notification cards reflecting the extended hours will be sent to all voters.

"The longer polling hours will serve, or give us a very good testing ground, to see the voting patterns of the voters. I think that would give us a lot of valuable data that we can evaluate, the voting hours that we should adopt in the future," EAC chairman David Lok said.

"We don't want any person who wants to vote, because of some practical difficulties, cannot vote."

A total of 615 general polling stations will be set up around the city, mostly in schools, community centres and government facilities.

Besides the extended hours, another new feature this year is the setting up of dedicated polling stations.

"Some voters need to work on election day and may not have time to vote during regular hours due to work schedules or on-duty responsibilities," Lok said.

The authorities will set up 10 special polling stations for civil servants.

Seven stations will operate near major hospitals to cater to medical staff on duty.

And two stations will be set up in Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui near places of worship, to benefit ethnic minorities.

There will also be new voting stations at the airport and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

An outreach service will be provided for residents and staff of care homes, with polling staff bringing ballot boxes directly to 11 selected elderly homes and four disability care institutions.

Lok said this year's election arrangements will be reviewed after the completion of the polls.