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April 10, 2005

Democrats and the Small Circle, Part 1

This is the first of two stories on how the HK democratic camp is participating in the CE election process that it fundamentally opposes. This one is about Lee Wing-tat's CE candidacy, which I had briefly mentioned before, as well as maneuvers by all three major parties to enter the Election Committee that will decide Hong Kong's next big cheese.

LEE WING-TAT PRE-EMPTIVELY ANNOUNCES CE BID
SUNDAY, 10 APRIL, LAST UPDATED 03:00

Oriental Daily: The Democratic Party will hold a convention on the 17th to decide whether to send someone to run in the Chief Executive by-election, but party leader Lee Wing-tat has already jumped the gun to announce that he will participate in the CE election, explaining that he did not want a re-run of the acclamation of Tung Chee-hwa in 2002. He thinks that there was no discussion throughout society at the time, and while citizens have no right to vote, they would still like to express their views, serving as the future CE's administrative blueprint. He admits that he is not confident in securing the 100 votes needed for nomination.

However, former HKDP leader Martin Lee thinks that participating in the CE by-election will not help the progress of democracy. He will not personally participate, and adds that the election is a small circle election, and foreign nations may be mistaken to believe that the election process is democratic and representative.

Five register for Election Committee by-elections

Liberal Party chairman James Tien has still not decided whether to run, and vice-chairwoman Selina Chow says that whether Tien will run will depend on the results of the public survey. The party will have a Standing Committee meeting to discuss the issue, and a conclusion is expected by Tuesday or Wednesday. She says that if Tien does not run, the party has not decided on whom to support for CE.

Meanwhile, the Election Committee responsible for electing the CE needs to hold by-elections on 1 May to fill in its thirty-three vacancies. The week-long nomination process began yesterday, and already five people have registered to run in four subsectors. Peninsula Textiles CEO Lam Ta-fai, a close family friend of Financial Secretary Henry Tang, has also joined the race. In the pan-democratic camp, Accountancy Functional Constituency Legco councillor Tam Heung-man accompanied two colleagues to register to run, hoping to gain more seats for the democratic camp and pave the way for a CE candidate from the democratic camp.

In the sixteen subsectors that require by-elections, the District Council subsector is expected to see the most heated competition. The three major parties are interested in winning the three vacancies there, and Chiang Sai-cheung, Liberal District Councillor for Kowloon City, was the first to register yesterday.

The Libearl Party plans to have from fifteen to twenty candidates, including for the Industry and Textiles and Garments subsectors. The DAB has not decided on the number of candidates.

As for the six vacancies in the Religious subsector, the religious organizations involved will negotiate internally and the vacancies will be filled by supplementary nominations. Results will be announced after the nomination period.

Posted by Kelvin at April 10, 2005 11:33 PM

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