The city-state of Hong Kong has chosen to postpone the forthcoming parliamentary elections due to the corona crisis.
The Hong Kong government has today chosen to postpone the forthcoming parliamentary elections . It says Hong Kong’s political leader, Carrie Lam, at a press conference .
The election should have taken place on September 6th.
– It is the most difficult decision I have made during the whole corona crisis, says Carrie Lam.
She goes on to say that the central government in Beijing supports the decision to postpone, but does not mention any new date for when the election will be held instead.
The opposition had otherwise hoped to gain a historic majority in the country’s Legislative Assembly, with only half of the seats directly elected. The rest are elected by union representatives and other special interest groups representing Hong Kong’s business community. These must be approved by bodies under the Central Government of Beijing
Yesterday, 12 possible candidates ruined the hope of running in the upcoming Hong Kong Parliamentary elections . It happened when the local government in Hong Kong officially rejected the candidacy of the twelve people.
And now the election has been postponed .
The new security law
The vote would have been Hong Kong’s first official vote after Beijing introduced a comprehensive new security law in June, which critics say aims to disrupt separatist voices in the city-state and bring the semi-autonomous territory on a more authoritarian path.