- Hong Kong announced on Friday that it is delaying the city’s upcoming legislative elections by one year, citing concerns about the coronavirus.
- The move represents another major blow to the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, and has disturbing parallels with President Donald Trump’s recent efforts to undermine the legitimacy of the 2020 elections in the United States.
- Trump suggested Thursday that Election Day be delayed by false claims about voting by mail.
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In the latest blow to the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, the city government announced on Friday that legislative elections scheduled for September would be postponed for a year.
Carrie Lam, executive director of Hong Kong, cited concerns about the coronavirus pandemic when announcing the move.
“It is a really difficult decision to delay, but we want to ensure equity, public safety and public health,” said Lam, according to the New York Times.
The announcement came about a month after Beijing passed a controversial new national security law in Hong Kong, which essentially criminalizes dissent, and just a day after a dozen pro-democracy candidates were disqualified from participating. In the elections. The government considered that the candidates were not in a position to run for office based on a number of arbitrary factors, including opposition to the new national security law.
Eddie Chu, a pro-democracy legislator in Hong Kong running for reelection, said on Twitter that China’s ruling communist party is “making a strategic withdrawal” to avoid “a potentially devastating defeat” of pro-Beijing candidates. In the elections.
The White House on Friday denounced Hong Kong’s decision to postpone its legislative elections as undemocratic, just a day after President Donald Trump suggested that the United States should delay the 2020 elections.
“Delaying the election until people can vote properly and safely?” Trump tweeted on Thursday, in a haunting parallel to this week’s developments in Hong Kong.
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 31, 2020
Trump, borrowing from China’s authoritative playbook, cited false concerns about the mail vote by suggesting that Election Day be delayed. Democrats have been advocating for greater access to mail-in voting on concerns of the spread of COVID-19 in crowded polling places.
The president, who is following former vice president Joe Biden in polls, has repeatedly said that voting by mail would lead to widespread electoral fraud. But there is virtually no evidence to back up Trump, as election fraud is extremely rare in the U.S.
Trump has no legal authority to delay the election, but the fact that he even suggested postponing Election Day raises serious questions about whether the president will accept the results if he loses. If Trump rejects the outcome of the November 3 elections, it could cause a constitutional crisis.
With his reelection campaign in trouble and the approval rating in the gutter, it’s clear that Trump feels his best option is to undermine the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
Therefore, the president tries to cast doubt on the integrity of the United States electoral process among voters should he lose. In doing so, Trump is mirroring the tactics of dictators such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, who saw the limits of the presidential term abolished in China two years ago in a move that effectively made him president for life.
In 2018, Trump praised Xi for consolidating power and raised the idea that the United States abolish the limits of the presidential term, which are enshrined in the United States Constitution.
“He is now president for life. President for life. And he is great,” Trump said of Xi in a private speech to Republican donors at the time, according to a recording obtained by CNN. “And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe one day we will try.”
