Election Notebook

With the Legislative Council election campaign in full swing, the South China Morning Post resumes its Election Notebook, with our reporters providing insights into, and anecdotes about, city politics every Thursday between now and polling day

'Weird' feeling about Wong's return to campaigning

Almost three years after the scandal over a lawmaker's sacking of a female aide who rebuffed his affections, the two now find themselves living very different lives.

While Democratic Party legislator Kam Nai-wai has decided to retreat from the political scene and will not seek a second term, his ex-aide Kimmie Wong Lai-chu is back in the limelight, helping accounting candidate Nelson Lam Chi-yuen run his Legislative Council election campaign.

Wong, a former ATV journalist, had spurned what Kam called 'good feelings'. Now Wong's new role has aroused mixed feelings in another former boss, lawmaker Mandy Tam Heung-man, who hired the media aide during her unsuccessful bid for re-election to the accounting seat in 2008.

Tam said she found Wong's new move 'weird'.

At a forum in 2008, Tam was accused of electoral bribery - and a recording of the event, used as evidence when a court heard the case last year (it found her not guilty of the offence), was made by none other than Wong's new boss, Nelson Lam. Other candidates for the seat include Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong, Peter Chan Po-fun and Wong Wang-tai. Tanna Chong

Chan shows she means business with winning goal

Showing she was serious about winning the seventh and final seat in the Hong Kong Island constituency, the Civic Party's Tanya Chan was every bit the 'goal getter' in a soccer match staged for the media.

The incumbent legislator played the role of striker Chan Siu-ki, nicknamed 'Chan Seven', on Tuesday, scoring the final goal to seal a 4-3 victory over a 'pro-establishment team' (peopled by Civic Party staff) at a Victoria Park pitch. Tanya said the match was to show her determination, although she ranks second on the party slate led by academic Dr Kenneth Chan Ka-lok.

Each candidate needs a minimum percentage of the total constituency votes to win the election. The contender ranked second on a party's slate can win if they have a sufficiently large share of the remaining votes.

Liberal Party chairwoman Miriam Lau Kin-yee and Christopher Chung Shu-kun of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong are also considered among those scrabbling for the seventh seat.

Other candidates include Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, Sin Chung-kai, Hui Ching-on, Dr Lo Wing-lok, Christopher Lau Gar-hung, Ng Wing-chun, Wong Kwok-hing, Tsang Yok-sing, Avery Ng Man-yuen, Cyd Ho Sau-lan and Ho Kar-tai. Colleen Lee

Ninja Wong stands out while using Naruto tactics

The pro-government lawmakers would not let their rivals hog the spotlight, so they decided to borrow tactics from Japanese comics. Federation of Trade Union lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin - a Kowloon East candidate who described himself as 'old-fashioned and serious' - dressed himself as Naruto Uzumaki, the ninja protagonist of the popular Naruto comics and animated series during a campaign event. He threw prop darts to call for legislation on standard working hours. Wong, 60, said he had to stand out from the crowd. 'I have no other way. There are too many candidates in Kowloon East. My younger campaigners came up with the idea and I briefly watched the cartoon in preparation.' Undeniably, he is in a tight contest with Wu Chi-wai, Chan Kam-lam, Paul Tse Wai-chun, Alan Leong Kah-kit, Tam Heung-man, Andrew To Kwan-hang, Wong Yeung-tat, Kay Yim Fung-chi and Chung Kit-wan. Imagine Naruto - currently 16 years old in the comics world - reaching the age of 60 and deciding to join politics. The question is, would he be a Beijing loyalist? Tanna Chong