Legco elections to be held in December

Legco president Andrew Leung revealed on Tuesday that the next Legco elections will take place in December, and that current lawmakers will stay on in the council until then.

The polls had been scheduled for September last year, but officials scrapped them, citing the pandemic. Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at the time that elections would instead be held this September.

Leung’s announcement came just hours after the NPC Standing Committee approved amendments to Annexes I and II of the Basic Law, paving the way for sweeping electoral changes in the SAR.

Under Beijing’s plan, the election committee that selects the chief executive will be expanded from 1,200 members to 1,500, and will be given new powers to nominate and select some lawmakers.

Legco will be expanded from the current 70 members to 90, with 40 of those seats to be returned by the election committee, 30 reserved for functional constituency candidates, and just 20 for the general public to vote on.

Leung said he supports the NPCSC’s decision, saying the new electoral arrangements are in line with Hong Kong’s “actual situation” and are a manifestation of the principle of “balanced participation.”

He said he believes the legislative and the executive branches will be able to better monitor and cooperate with each other in future, enabling the government and society to focus on tackling pressing economic and livelihood issues.

Leung also said the government is planning to table amendment bills for the electoral overhaul in mid-April, and he will hold extra council meetings for lawmakers to speed up scrutiny of the amendments.

He said a tight schedule means lawmakers will not have their usual summer break.

“The Legco election is going to take place in December. Therefore the amendments need to be done a lot earlier than that because the election committee will also need to be elected beforehand. So I think the pressing question is for the bills committee to scrutinise the bill as quickly as possible so we allow time for the two elections to take place,” he said.

Leung said he and the Legco Secretariat have been making preparations for the future Legco, saying they have plans to add more seats in the chamber and in conference rooms.

But the president noted that since there are only 75 rooms reserved for legislators in the building, they will have to either revamp the building or find space elsewhere for the future 15 extra lawmakers.