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HONG KONG (REUTERS) – The Hong Kong government’s decision to postpone an election for the city’s legislature by a year, by invoking emergency legislation after a spike in coronavirus cases, may be unlawful, the city’s bar association said.
Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam on Friday (July 31) postponed the election for the Legislative Council, or Legco, citing public health dangers in the Chinese-ruled city, but said there were political considerations.
The poll would have been the former British colony’s first official vote since Beijing imposed a sweeping security law to tackle what China broadly defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with punishment of up to life in prison.
Electoral rules in Hong Kong only allow votes to be postponed for 14 days, but colonial-era laws give the government broad powers in case of threats to public safety.
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