Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu has indicated that a by-election to fill the legislative seat vacated by William Wong Kam-fai is a lower priority than preparing for three major polls over the next 18 months.
Wong resigned from the Legislative Council earlier this month following his arrest over an alleged drink-driving and hit-and-run incident
Weighing in on the issue for the first time nearly a month after the disgraced lawmaker’s resignation, the chief executive stressed on Tuesday that electoral authorities must weigh the “necessity of a poll” against manpower and logistics constraints.
Lee’s comments provide the clearest signal yet from the government that the vote will not proceed, after Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Janice Tse Siu-wa cited time constraints and concerns about the cost-effectiveness of holding such a poll.
“When we look at the three important elections we have in the next 18 months, our priority must be successfully conducting these three polls rather than the by-election for the vacant Legco seat, in terms of time and workload,” Lee said.
The three scheduled polls are the Election Committee subsector election this November, the chief executive poll next March and the District Council election towards the end of next year.