Letters to Hong Kong

26 August 2020 - Postponement of the Hong Kong LegCo election

Dear friends of Hong Kong,

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government announced on 31 July 2020 to postpone the Legislative Council (LegCo) Election for one year, from 6 September 2020 to 5 September 2021, amid severe COVID-19 epidemic outbreak. You may be following the relevant news and development. Accordingly, I would like to take this opportunity to apprise you of the consideration and rationales for this difficult but necessary decision.

The postponement of the LegCo Election was to protect public safety and public health as well as to ensure elections to be conducted openly and fairly. As you will fully agree with us, every government has an obligation, first and foremost, to protect the health and safety of its people. It is of no exception in Hong Kong. On the other hand, the LegCo performs substantive functions in enacting and amending legislation, approving expenditure and revenue items and approving the annual Budget. Similar to the parliamentary and congressional establishments in other jurisdictions, the LegCo has an annual business cycle and holds an election in regular intervals. It is necessary to ensure that any election is a fair and open one and that the LegCo continues to conduct its business in accordance with its annual cycle.

With Hong Kong in the midst of a third wave of COVID-19 infections, our worst outbreak at the time, our city was living under some of the strictest social distancing measures since the outbreak of COVID-19. A situation with millions of voters casting their votes on the same day and with polling stations, central counting station and media centre of candidates, agents, media and staff gathering for extended hours would have created a very high risk. The large scale of the LegCo Election would be in the range of 4.4 million registered voters, 615 polling stations and 34,000 electoral staff. In addition, any meaningful electioneering activities would not be possible. Stringent boundary control measures would also make it impossible for registered Hong Kong voters to return from overseas or the Mainland of China to cast their votes. The decision to postpone the LegCo Election was a responsible call under the circumstances. As a matter of fact, Hong Kong is not alone in prioritising public health over polls and other jurisdictions around the world have also postponed elections due to the pandemic.

The one-year postponement of the LegCo Elections inadvertently gave onto a lacuna in the legislature in the coming year. To address this, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People’s Republic of China has recently decided that the term of the current sixth term LegCo would be extended for not less than one year. After which, the seventh term LegCo will be formed in accordance with the law, and its term of office remains to be four years.

On the course to fight the pandemic, like many government counterparts of ours, the HKSAR Government strives to strike a balance among policy priorities on public health, economic impact and social acceptance in devising appropriate measures. Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government continues to uphold the democratic process in Hong Kong. We attach utmost importance to ensuring, and protecting, the constitutional right of Hong Kong people to take part in, and stand for, elections. This we will do freely, openly and in good faith in September next year.

Best regards,
Law Kin-wai
Director-General
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office