The election for Hong Kong’s next leader will be pushed back by six weeks to May 8, 2022 as the city faces its worst COVID-19 outbreak.
Speaking to reporters after a special Executive Council meeting on Friday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said officials have invoked emergency powers to postpone the poll from March 27, 2022 to May 8, 2022.
She added the nomination period, which was set to begin the coming Sunday, would also be delayed to April 3, 2022. It will run till April 16, 2022.
“This decision is due to Hong Kong facing its most severe stretch in the two years of the pandemic. The situation is pressing,” she said.
“For the sake of public health, the government needs to focus our attention on handling the pandemic.”
The city has been reporting record-breaking levels of COVID-19 infections on a near daily basis, with dozens dying the past week.
A total of 6,116 cases were confirmed on Thursday.
Lam said the choice of the May 8 date gives the new leader two months to form his or her cabinet, in time for the handover of power on July 1, 2022.
The poll for Hong Kong’s leader is a small-circle election, with only 1,462 voters from an election committee.
It is not the first time that an election has been postponed in Hong Kong due to the coronavirus.
In 2020, the government pushed back the Legislative Council elections for a year amid a rise in COVID-19 cases.
But critics say the move was a pretext to stop people from voting at a time when tensions were running high over the implementation of a controversial national security law.
