Lee on Tuesday gave the clearest signal so far among officials that the vote to replace Wong would not take place, 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.
Lee said factors such as manpower, venue arrangements and the procurement of election materials must be considered “based on the actual situation” when electoral authorities weigh the “necessity of a poll”.
