I personally think this is the reason they are not conducting FSW draws, everyone just assumed it’s covid, I don’t think there is an official gov reason that they gave for not conducting them. Canada was always an outlier in terms of giving PR to someone who has not stepped foot in that country. Every other country I can think of will atleast want the person to be in the country before giving a PR, it was bound to change at somepoint, looks like we may be the unlucky ones.
WRT to election predictions I think whatever happens, the new gov will not change policies until atleast a couple of months of forming government.