LettersHong Kong protests: Electoral Affairs Commission must not yield to pressure to cancel district council elections

If the commission cancels the November polls, it will be seen as succumbing to partisan interests. The commission should not allow the government and the pro-establishment camp to erode its credibility

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Joshua Wong Chi-fung, secretary general of the pro-democracy Demosisto party, submits his application to run in the district council elections, on October 4 at the Southern District Office in Aberdeen. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:25am, 15 Oct 2019Updated: 7:25am, 15 Oct 2019

The Election Observation Project welcomes the statement issued by the Electoral Affairs Commission on October 8, reiterating its commitment “to ensure that public elections are held in an open, fair and honest manner”.

However, we notice that the commission has not ruled out or rejected repeated calls by pro-government parties to postpone or cancel the district council elections.

It is no coincidence that the government has reportedly considered such options, with one government source quoted by the Post as saying: “It will be up to the Electoral Affairs Commission to decide whether to cancel the elections [on polling day] but the government will make a statement beforehand.”

We are seriously concerned the commission is under increasing pressure to cancel the elections, a decision that will certainly be perceived as yielding to partisan interests.

We would like to remind Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Barnabas Fung Wah that the commission has an obligation to uphold electoral integrity. We do not think the commission would like to see its credibility as “an independent, apolitical and impartial body” eroded or its mission compromised by the government and the pro-government political parties.