Fight for chair: Countries that held elections amid the pandemic

As large public gatherings are being prohibited in many countries due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, few countries decided to take a leap of faith and hold elections. While some ignored the health precuations, others decided to embrace the 'new normal'.

Israel

Legislative elections were held in Israel on March 02, 2020 in Israel to elect members of the twenty-third Knesset. 

(Photograph:AFP)

South Korea

South Korea held its parliamentary elections on April 15, 2020. Voters were asked to compulsorily wear face mask, plastic gloves when casting ballots and maintain 1 metre (40 inches) distance between each other. Temperatures were also checked before entering the polling booths.

(Photograph:Reuters)

France

The 2020 French municipal elections were held to renew the municipal councils of the approximately 35,000 French communes.

The first round took place on 15 March and the second round was postponed to 28 June due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

(Photograph:AFP)

Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s opposition camp set up polling booths across the Chinese-ruled city on Saturday for primary elections aimed at selecting democracy candidates who stand the best chance of success in Legislative Council elections in September.

Majority of the voters and the volunteers were seen wearing face mask, although Hong Kong has been able to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

(Photograph:Reuters)

Poland

Poland held its presidential election runoff between the conservative incumbent Andrzej Duda and liberal, pro-European Union Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.

As the election rallies and casting of votes took place, not much of COVID-19 precautions were followed.

(Photograph:Reuters)

Singapore

Singapore conducted general elections on July 10. The voting booths were open from 8 am till 8 pm and the locals were urged to exercise their right to vote, but with face masks, gloves and social distancing.

(Photograph:Reuters)

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka held mock polls twice to test the preparedness of the volunteers, officials and the voters for the upcoming parliamentary polls.

The postal voting for over 700,000 Sri Lankan officers, who will be on duty on August 5 for the parliamentary polls, began on Monday amidst special security measures, following a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in the country.

All election rallies have been cancelled in the country due to fear of spread of the infection.

(Photograph:AFP)

Topics