Democrats shrug off Arculli's switch
Pro-democracy lawyers have shrugged off the possibility of political heavyweight Ronald Arculli contesting the Election Committee's legal subsector poll, saying that would pose no real threat.
Their remarks came as Mr Arculli, a member of Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's cabinet, applied to switch from the real estate to the legal subsector, saying it would better reflect his present status. But he said he had yet to decide if he would run for a seat in the legal subsector. The pro-government camp is targeting electoral strongholds of the pro-democracy camp, such as the medicine, accounting and legal subsectors, in the upcoming poll for seats on the 800-strong Election Committee.
Democrat Martin Lee Chu-ming said he suspected Mr Arculli's move might have been motivated by Beijing, which was 'very keen' to curb the democrats' influence in the committee's legal sector.
But he said even if Mr Arculli decided to run, the democrats' plan to win many of the 20 seats in the sector in December would not be affected. 'Is Arculli a god? The lawyers who love democracy will vote for us anyway, and those who love the communists will vote for him,' Mr Lee said.
Ronny Tong Ka-wah, of the Civic Party, who is co-ordinating the candidate list in the legal sector, said he was confident Mr Arculli's impact would be marginal.
Mr Arculli, a veteran former legislator and senior leader of the Liberal Party, said he had left the Real Estate and Developers' Association after he joined the Executive Council. He is now senior partner of a law firm.
