Following her announcement last Friday that the Legislative Council general election would be postponed for a year, a reporter asked Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor if she was concerned about how her decision would look to the outside world after the year of protests. She replied, in no uncertain terms, that her decision had nothing to do with politics or the likely outcome of the elections.

It is also unsurprising that to postpone the elections, Lam again resorted to a remnant of the colonial era, the Emergency Regulations Ordinance. That piece of legislation had lain dormant since the 1970s but was brought back to life only nine months ago, to allow her to enact the 2019 anti-mask law.

This time, Lam’s position – and presumably her confidence – was plainly bolstered by the fact she could rely on and even cite the Court of Appeal judgment in April. The judgment stated that the chief executive is empowered under that law to make emergency regulations on any occasion of public danger.