September 6 tentative date for Legislative Council election, but Hong Kong’s battle with Covid-19 lends uncertainty
- Following on the heels of their landslide in November district council polls, the city’s pan-democrats are keen to see election take place as scheduled
- Some 31,000 civil servants are being recruited for polling station work, while honorarium for ‘presiding officers’ is more than doubling from 2016
September 6 has been set as the tentative date for Hong Kong’s upcoming Legislative Council election, despite concerns the polls could yet be postponed as the city grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.
The provisional date for the highly anticipated election was mentioned in a circular sent by the Registration and Electoral Office to permanent secretaries and heads of various government departments on Monday, and revealed to the Post on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau later confirmed the provisional date, saying the “exact date of the election will be based on what will be published in the Gazette later”.
Riding the momentum of the anti-government movement that erupted in June, the opposition camp rolled to a stunning victory in November’s district council elections and now hope to take control of Legco for the first time since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
But pro-Beijing lawmakers recently urged the government to consider postponing the election, as the pandemic was unlikely to end by September.