Another election delay cannot be ruled out, says Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam

Hong Kong, Mar 8 (efe-epa).- Hong Kong mini-parliamentary election could be postponed for a second time to cope with the electoral reform newly imposed by Beijing, the city’s top leader Carrie Lam implied.

At a press conference on Monday, the Hong Kong chief executive said: “For the moment, I can not tell you whether we need to postpone the election again or not.”

In July 2020, Lam invoked her emergency powers to delay the city’s Legislative Council (LegCo) election by one year, citing Covid-19 concerns.

The poll was rescheduled for 5 September 2021.

China’s National People’s Congress is set to approve Beijing’s plans to “improve” Hong Kong’s electoral system, an initiative unveiled at the country’s annual parliamentary meeting which opened last Friday.

The reform measures include increasing the number of LegCo members from 70 to 90, and allowing the Election Committee, which elects the Hong Kong chief executive, to participate in the nomination of all LegCo candidates and pick some LegCo members itself.

The committee is dominated by pro-Beijing figures. The date of selecting members of the committee is expected to take place in December.

At the media conference today, Lam, who has just returned from Beijing, noted: “Now we have a lot of work to do, in particular with the Election Committee having been given a new duty [which is] to elect members… Logically, the election for the Election Committee should take place first before the LegCo election.”EFE-EPA

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