Legco polls date is up to Beijing: Erick Tsang

The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary, Erick Tsang, said on Saturday that the government still intends to hold the Legislative Council elections on September 5, that is, unless the central government has other plans for the SAR.

The Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, last year announced a one-year postponement to the polls citing the Covid-19 outbreak.

This was followed by Beijing’s decision to disqualify four pro-democracy legislators, and the subsequent mass resignation by the rest of the pan-democratic lawmakers to protest against the disqualifications – leaving the interim legislature with virtually no opposition.

Earlier this week, the head of Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau affairs, Xia Baolong, said there’s a pressing need to reform the city’s electoral systems to stamp out people who “oppose China and disrupt Hong Kong” and to make sure the city is ruled by patriots.

Xia said the reform must be led by the central government.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan’s budget estimates on electoral expenses stated that the administration was aiming to hold the election before December 3, but Tsang said at present, the plan is still to hold the polls on September 5.

But speaking on a radio programme on Saturday, Tsang admitted the SAR government did not know how and when Beijing planned to change the electoral system here.

“Although Xia Baolong said Hong Kong’s electoral system has to be improved and it’s a pressing issue, how exactly this could be done or when a decision will be made… We don’t have any information yet,” Tsang said.

“When the central government reaches a concrete decision, we will fully cooperate,” he said.