A group of people were refused entry to the 2012 Legislative Council Election Central Counting Station today due to safety concerns, the Registration & Electoral Office says.

A designated area containing about 1,000 seats had been reserved for public observation of vote counting and the announcement of results at the venue at AsiaWorld-Expo.

Admission was arranged on a first come, first served basis. The arrangements were announced on the election website and in a press release issued on September 8. There was also a designated area for candidates and agents.

The office issued a press release and uploaded a message on the election website at about 5.30am today, urging the public not to go to the Central Counting Station, as the public area had reached its full capacity.

About 200 people later asked to enter the public area, but were refused for safety reasons. However, the office said they pushed and shoved in an attempt to storm the venue.

When the office noticed some people leaving the counting station after the announcement of the geographical constituency results, it arranged for more people to enter the venue in batches to watch the remainder of proceedings.

The office said it tried its best to ensure a safe environment to allow the maximum number of people to observe the proceedings.