https://www.scmp.com/rss/501952/feed Erik Shum is vice-chair of the Hong Kong Bar Association’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com On July 31, the chief executive announced that the Legislative Council elections – scheduled for September 6 – would be postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, discussions have shifted to how to handle the “vacuum” in legislative business and whether the National People’s Congress Standing Committee should appoint all incumbent legislators to a “transitional” legislature or whether some should be disqualified. Such discussions are understandable, but they miss the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3096280/legco-elections-why-government-has-failed-make-case-extraordinary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3096280/legco-elections-why-government-has-failed-make-case-extraordinary?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Aug 2020 22:20:16 +0000 The public is anxiously awaiting definitive news as to whether the government will indeed invoke the long-dormant but draconian Emergency Regulations Ordinance to enact measures to quell the political unrest. So, it is worth reviewing whether, from a constitutional perspective, the ordinance is indeed a “legal means” which the government has at its disposal to deal with the present circumstances, as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has claimed.   The ordinance gives the Chief Executive... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3025261/if-carrie-lam-declares-emergency-hong-kong-she-will-be-defying-rule?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3025261/if-carrie-lam-declares-emergency-hong-kong-she-will-be-defying-rule?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Sep 2019 22:30:07 +0000