Election Delay Reflects Badly On SAR: Legal Expert

A constitutional law expert says the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, should have avoided postponing next month's Legco elections for a year, saying this discredits Hong Kong.

US-based academic, Michael Davis, a former professor from the law faculty at the University of Hong Kong told RTHK it was a common tactic of authoritarian regimes to postpone elections and disqualify opposition candidates.

On Friday, the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, said the threat of a major Covid-19 outbreak was increasing, with record numbers of new coronavirus cases being reported, many from unknown sources. She said, as a result, the election would be postponed from September 6 this year to September 5, 2021.

Davis rejected Lam's reasoning for the delay.

"There's a lot of suspicion that this is more about the risk of losing the election than it is about the pandemic, as Singapore, South Korea and many other places have done well [holding elections despite the pandemic]. Hong Kong is not a poor undeveloped place. It's a very high-tech place. I have no doubt they could have solved this problem," Davis said.

"This is one of the common moves, actually, of authoritarian regimes around the world - they promise elections in the future and then they delay them. This is a very common tactic and, I think, one that discredits Hong Kong and one that she should have avoided."

The Hong Kong Bar Association on Sunday expressed "grave concern" about the government's decision on Friday to postpone September's Legislative Council election for a year because of the pandemic.

It said the right to vote was guaranteed by Article 26 of the Basic Law and by the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, saying it was a vital constitutional right.