Three more incumbent legislators announced bids for the 'super seats' in the upcoming Legislative Council elections, consolidating a much-anticipated stand-off between the pro-establishment and pan-democracy camps for the five newly-established seats.
Officially joining the fray yesterday were Lau Kong-wah and Starry Lee Wai-king, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, and Frederick Fung Kin-kee of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood.
The trio makes a field of six candidates for the new district council functional constituency. Albert Ho Chun-yan and James To Kun-sun of the Democratic Party and Chan Yuen-han of the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Union have already announced runs.
The five directly elected seats were part of the package of the electoral reforms that were endorsed two years ago by Legco, which will enlarge the legislature to 70 seats from the current 60.
The new functional constituency have been dubbed 'super seats' because the city's entire electorate of 3.2 million people could cast ballots for them, meaning the winners could claim a larger mandate than other, locally elected legislators.
With the parties fielding their best-known candidates for the 'super seats', the direct election in the district constituency is expected to see several newcomers.