In a seeming ultimatum unlikely to sit well the thousands of Hong Kong protesters demanding democratic reforms, the SAR government today insinuated that it might not be able to hold Sunday’s local elections as planned unless the deepening violence in the city abates.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip said the events of the past few days — which have seen widespread unrest and police laying siege to multiple universities, most notably PolyU — have “reduced the chance” of this month’s district council elections going ahead as planned, RTHK reports.
Nip maintained the government remained committed to ensuring the poll went ahead smoothly, but noted that “the situation in the past weekend has obviously reduced the chance of holding the elections as scheduled and I’m very worried and anxious about this.”
“I must say that postponing the elections is a difficult decision to make and we will not take this step unless absolutely necessary,” he added.
Nip went on to lay out three conditions for polls going ahead: that tunnels and roads be cleared, that vandalism of other transport facilities be stopped, and, most importantly, that the violence that has characterized recent protests come to an end.
Unsurprisingly, Hong Kong netizens were quick to see ulterior motives behind the government’s actions.
https://twitter.com/JohnNg84646220/status/1196381296093589504
“Hong Kong govt intentionally escalated the #PolyU conflicts to postpone election,” one Twitter user named John Ng said. “HK govt always put politics before wellbeing of people.”
Another accused Chief Executive Carrie Lam of trying to “hold [the] district election hostage,” framing the implicit ultimatum thus: “If you are a good boy then I will allow you to vote for this election; if you behave badly and fight back against the police abuse there will be no election.”
