Members of the citizen party, who were barred from legislation elections, held a press conference Thursday. Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times
Newsflash: Hong Kong government said Friday it will postpone the legislation elections scheduled for September by one year due to the coronal virus pandemic. Democrats believe the decision was made to thwart the opposition's electoral momentum and avoid losing pro-Beijing candidates.
"It is a very difficult decision to postpone the election, but we need to ensure that the election is fair, public safety and public health ," said Hong Kong Chief Executive Mrs Carrie Lam. "
For Hong Kong's democratic politicians, delaying the election is a blow. For their part, they thought they could win the autumn election —— which they had enjoyed in the previous informal "primaries" because of popular discontent with the government and concerns about the new national security law. It is also the latest in a series of radical moves by the establishment to clamp down on democratic movements.
12 pro-democracy candidates, including prominent activist Huang Zhifeng, were disqualified from legislation election on Thursday. Huang Zhifeng said criticism of the new national security law was part of his disqualification. He called the move "the biggest electoral scandal in hong kong's history ".
While the government described the decision as a public-health concern aimed at curbing the spread of virus, democrats accused government of using social distance to suppress the protest movement that began more than a year ago.
Zhu kaidi, a democratic councillor running for re-election, said in Twitter that china's ruling Communist Party was ordering a "strategic retreat ". He wrote that they "wanted to avoid a potentially devastating defeat in the elections ".
Ma Yue, an associate professor of political science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the explanation that the vote had to be postponed because of the outbreak may be hard to convince. He said :" I think this will be seen as a manipulation, that is, government fear of losing a majority, so they postpone the election. "
Hong Kong, which has kept the number of cases low for several months, is struggling to cope with a new round of infections, reporting more than 100 new cases a day for more than a week. government have implemented a number of new closures and social isolation measures.
On july 1st, a ship in victoria harbor, hong kong, was carrying banners welcoming the new national security law.
According to the Hong Kong law,, if there is a "risk to public health or safety ", the election may be postponed for up to 14 days. However, under the Emergency Act, which can be track back to the British colonial era, the Chief Executive may make any provision deemed to be "in the public interest ". Last year, Mrs Lam invoked the law to impose a "ban on Mongolia" to suppress protest activities.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs speaker Wang Wenbin said on Friday that the Hong Kong election was "a local election in China and a purely domestic one ".
"I believe Hong Kong will government deal with the relevant matters in accordance with the law light of the actual situation such as the fight against the epidemic ," he added.
The delay is likely to be criticized by the United States and other countries, which are clearly opposed to China's strengthening of control over Hong Kong. Trump government this month removed the special treatment given to hong kong and said it would impose many of the same restrictions as mainland, especially in trade and law enforcement.
