Hong Kong election

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said yesterday that the semiautonomous Chinese territory’s legislative elections will take place on December 19, more than a year after they were postponed by authorities citing public health risks from the coronavirus pandemic. The elections were initially slated to be held last September. Lam also said that laws will be amended so that inciting voters not to vote or to cast blank or invalid votes will be made illegal, although voters themselves are free to boycott voting or cast votes as they wish. Lam was speaking a day ahead of the first reading of draft amendments to various laws in the city’s legislature, to accommodate Beijing’s planned changes to the city’s electoral system. The move is part of a two-phase effort to rein in political protest and opposition in Hong Kong.