Hong Kong leader delays legislative elections, asks Beijing to resolve legal questions, citing coronavirus pandemic dangers
- Citing health risks of voting amid Covid-19, Chief Executive Carrie Lam invokes emergency powers to postpone Legislative Council polls by a year
- National People’s Congress Standing Committee to decide legal issues surrounding move, while oppositions warns of collapse of constitutional order
“Hong Kong’s epidemic situation has entered the most severe stage since January, as the community outbreak is expected to continue,” Lam said, as the city reported a 10th straight day of more than 100 new infections. “Voting, which involves mass gatherings and social contacts, could pose a very serious risk to public health.”
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Hong Kong Legislative Council elections postponed by a year
Denying any political motive in delaying the elections by invoking powers granted under the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance, she described it as the hardest decision she had made since the coronavirus first hit Hong Kong seven months ago.
She recognised the problem this would create because of the four-year limit to a Legco term under the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law. She had asked Beijing to step in, she said, and the State Council had responded with full support.
“They acknowledged that there will be this problem of the status of Legco, or a lacuna in Legco, as a result of the postponement. So what their guidance and advice to me is: the State Council will make a submission to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee [NPCSC] for its decision,” Lam said.
Her personal view, she added, was that it would be a “logical solution” for the incumbent legislature to continue for another year until the new elections, but this would be up to the NPCSC.
[The delay] shows that the government is highly committed to Hong Kong people’s safety and health
