Hong Kong has no time for by-elections to fill more than 200 district council seats vacated by opposition: Carrie Lam
- Chief executive confirms no polls will take place, while conceding the exodus has left the municipal-level bodies unable to function properly
- Opposition councillors stepped down en masse in recent weeks following rumours they could be forced to return every dollar paid to them if disqualified
Hong Kong will hold no by-elections to fill the more than 200 seats recently vacated in its district councils, the city’s leader has confirmed, even as she conceded the municipal-level bodies were no longer “fully functional” after the mass resignation of opposition councillors.
Instead, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said government-appointed committees packed with pro-establishment figures could take a more active role to plug the gaps.
She added that the administration simply had no time to hold by-elections given there were already three other major polls – for the Election Committee, Legislative Council and chief executive post – set for the coming year.
“We do not feel there is sufficient room and time for another set of by-elections, especially of this magnitude, because of the number of seats involved,” Lam said on Tuesday before her weekly meeting with policy advisers.
“I could say it would be almost impossible for us to mount a by-election [for] any district council vacancies between now and the end of this [government’s] term.”
