Hong Kong election: guidelines for chief executive race due out Thursday but kick-off date for nominations still ‘being decided by Beijing’, sources say
- If officials do not reveal launch of nomination period, it would mark a departure from previous practice where the date and guidelines were disclosed on same day
- Lead-up to this year’s race has been unusually quiet, with only one hopeful throwing his hat into the ring so far, and incumbent leader Carrie Lam coy on a second bid
Hong Kong’s election officials are still “awaiting further instructions from Beijing” on whether to announce the date of the nomination period for the chief executive election when they release on Thursday the much-anticipated guidelines for the coming race, the Post has learned.
If they do not do so, it would mark a departure from previous practice, where the date and the guidelines are made public on the same day.
“We might look odd in the eyes of the public if we have to go against previous practice and further hold off on an important date for the election,” an official said on condition of anonymity. “But the choice is not in our hands.”
With only two months to go before the March 27 leadership race, the release of official information about the election has been unusually late compared with the previous five polls since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
In the most recent races in 2012 and 2017, the announcements of the two-week nomination period, along with the polling guidelines, were made in press conferences on December 23, more than three months ahead of the election.
Aspiring candidates had at least seven weeks to prepare their campaigns before they formally launched their bids from mid-February the following year.
On Tuesday, the government announced that a press conference would be held on Thursday to release key election information, which according to a source had earlier been set for the first week of this month.