Hong Kong Chief Executive to Delay Election to Fill Her Own Post

(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong will delay the chief executive’s election by more than a month, the city’s leader said, citing the need to prioritize battling the city’s worst-ever outbreak of Covid-19.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam told a news briefing Friday that she would invoke emergency powers to postpone the election to fill her own post, the second time in less than two years that local authorities have cited the virus to delay a democratic exercise. The committee of 1,500 electors who choose the chief executive will meet on May 8, rather than the originally planned date of March 27.