White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that the White House condemns Hong Kong’s decision to postpone its legislative elections.
Asked about the delay during a press conference on Friday, McEnany said, “We condemn the Hong Kong government’s decision to postpone for one year, its legislative council elections and to disqualify opposition candidates.”
She continued, “This action undermines the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong’s prosperity. And this is only the most recent in a growing list of broken promises by Beijing, which promised autonomy and freedoms to the Hong Kong people.”
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Without a shred of irony, McEnany says the Trump administration condemns Hong Kong’s decision to delay its election because it undermines democracy pic.twitter.com/nByQ91zaL2
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 31, 2020
Hong Kong’s elections were scheduled to be held on September 6, but they have been postponed for one year.
Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lamb said, “The new wave of epidemics may take several weeks or even longer. Even if the previous experience in April or May, even if the epidemic stabilizes, the society will take some time to recover. Experts say unless it is immediate that they develop and supply effective vaccines, otherwise a winter outbreak is very likely to occur by the end of the year.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump floated the idea of delaying the November election. In a Thursday tweet, Trump bemoaned mail-in voting and wrote, “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”
In a press conference on Thursday, Trump gave a two-sided answer on delaying the election, telling reporters, “Do I want to see a date change? No. But I don’t want to see a crooked election. This election will be the most rigged election in history if that happens.”
