Hong Kong Postpones September Legislative Council Election Due to COVID-19 (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] The Hong Kong government has decided to postpone the Legislative Council election scheduled for September.

Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, announced at a press conference on the 31st that due to the rapid increase in confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Legislative Council election originally scheduled for September 6 has been postponed.

Recently, Hong Kong has been reporting more than 100 new COVID-19 cases daily.

Major Hong Kong media outlets such as the South China Morning Post (SCMP) analyzed that this decision was also influenced by the disqualification of one pro-democracy candidate, Joshua Wong, the day before.

Meanwhile, the pro-democracy camp strongly opposed the possibility of postponing the election.

The pro-democracy camp was encouraged by the participation of over 610,000 people in the primary election held on the 11th and 12th, which was far beyond expectations, to select a unified opposition candidate for the Legislative Council election.

Having achieved an overwhelming victory in the district council elections last November, the pro-democracy camp planned to capitalize on this momentum to secure a majority of the 70 seats in the Legislative Council election on September 6.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.