© Civic Party
Civic Party members meet the press on July 30, 2020 regarding the disqualification of four members from the 2020 Legislative Council Election.
Civic Party members meet the press on July 30, 2020 regarding the disqualification of four members from the 2020 Legislative Council Election.
The leader will invoke the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to hold off the vote - a decision she said was supported by Beijing.
"The announcement I have to make today is the most difficult one I have had to make in the past seven months," she said at a press conference. "It is a really tough decision to delay the election, but we want to ensure public safety and health, and to make sure the elections are held in an open and impartial manner. The decision is therefore essential."
The unprecedented delay came amid added scrutiny over the disqualification of at least a dozen democratic hopefuls the day before. Activists, NGOs and foreign politicians have decried the move as part of a wide-reaching crackdown under Beijing's newly implemented national security law for the city.
Lam said the exposure of millions of staff and voters, including vulnerable elderly people, to Covid-19 on polling day threatened to overwhelm the city's public healthcare system. She added some Hong Kong permanent residents were stranded in mainland China and abroad due to travel restrictions, therefore it would be "impossible" for them to return home to vote.
Comment: Hong Kong - hot on the heels of the national security law criminalizing ill-defined 'subversion' against the Communist Party - jumps on the bandwagon of states using COVID hysteria to postpone elections. Germany has suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to the above developments.