What We're Tracking Fallout from a Hong Kong election delay. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam's July 31 decision to postpone Legislative Council elections by a year will provoke protests in the near term and legal uncertainties in the medium term. Opposition forces appealed for the move's popular rejection, but protesters still face severe restrictions on public gatherings due to COVID-19 and the implementation of the national security law. Still, the severity of this decision could very well overcome prior reluctance to protest. The response over the weekend and early into Aug. 3 will indicate how opposition lawmakers and protest leaders intend to respond. The legal challenges created by the delay have been referred to China's National Assembly for resolution, but the earliest it could review the issue is Aug. 8; Beijing's judgment is more likely to come down later in the month.