Hong Kong postpones Legislative Council election, citing COVID-19

In November 2019, right after Hong Kong’s most intense period of protests and clashes with police, Hongkongers showed up to the polls in record numbers and ushered in a landslide of pro-democracy candidates into district council posts.

• This represented a strong rebuke to the government establishment led by Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥 Lín Zhèng Yuè’é), and an embarrassment for Beijing.

The next step for Hong Kong democrats, Ryan Tang wrote for The China Project, was to “make a serious play for the Legislative Council next year.”

But then, three key things happened:

• A month ago, Beijing imposed national security legislation on Hong Kong, intending to crush the local pro-democracy movement.
• Yesterday, Hong Kong disqualified a dozen pro-democracy candidates from running in the Legislative Council elections, partially using the new laws as justification.
• And now, Carrie Lam has said she will delay the election because of COVID-19, from September 6 this year to September 5, 2021. Lam invoked the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance to implement the long postponement, the South China Morning Post reports.

Public health, or politics?

“There are absolutely no political considerations in these measures,” Lam insisted as she announced the postponement. “I’ve been so busy tracking the virus situation in recent days, I hardly have time to see how the election competition is going.”

Hong Kong does have a serious COVID-19 outbreak.

• The city just reported 10 straight days of more than 100 infections, some of them untraceable.
• Earlier this week, more than 78% of isolation beds in the city’s public hospitals were full, the BBC reported, and public gatherings were limited to just two people.

But elections elsewhere have taken place, even during the pandemic.

• In total, at least 68 countries and territories have postponed elections due to COVID-19, while at least 49 have held elections as planned, according to statistics cited by the Wall Street Journal, which adds:

Public-health experts have said there is no justification for a year-long delay, pointing to measures that could mitigate risk, including social distancing at poll stations and staggered voting times. South Korea held national elections in April, and Singapore, another financial hub, held general elections earlier in July after a weekslong lockdown.

More on the election postponement:

• Hong Kong delays election, citing coronavirus. The opposition isn’t buying it. / NYT (porous paywall)
• Germany suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong citing election delay – minister / AFP via HKFP
• HK LegCo election postponed a year, gets central govt support / Global Times (state media)