Chief executive election 2022: next month’s poll will go ahead as planned despite surging coronavirus cases, city leader says
- City leader Carrie Lam explained her decision to push ahead with the poll amid record infections after postponing by a year the 2020 Legislative Council election during a similar surge
- Noting the much smaller voter pool, she said: ‘It is far easier to put in place disease-control measures to make sure that it will be conducted in a safe manner’
Explaining her rationale on Tuesday, Lam noted that the chief executive poll involved just a tiny fraction of the electors eligible to vote in a Legislative Council election, the last of which was postponed by a year amid a similar surge in cases in 2020.
“It is far easier to put in place disease-control measures to make sure that it will be conducted in a safe manner, as opposed to a Legislative Council election that involves millions of voters,” she said at her weekly press briefing, while also leaving open the possibility for adjustments to be made.
“This is our assessment for now. Since the pandemic is changing so quickly, all I can do is to try my best to be more proactive in providing the latest updates.”
Lam has remained coy about whether she will seek re-election in the coming race, which is slated for March 27. So far, the only person to throw his hat into the ring is Checkley Sin Kwok-lam, a film producer and kung fu master.
