CY Leung's popularity in his first year lags behind Donald Tsang
Democratic Party compares first years of the 2 chief executives and finds Leung way behind
Leung Chun-ying's popularity in his first year as chief executive has lagged far behind that of his predecessor Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, according to an analysis by the Democratic Party.
It compared tracking polls carried out by the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme over the two leaders' so-called honeymoon period.
Tsang took the helm in July 2007 and his support rating was 72.3 on a scale of zero to 100. This compared with 52.5 Leung got when he became the new chief executive. It was also Leung's highest score in the past 12 months.
Tsang's rating fell to 67.2 at the end of his first year, while Leung's support rating slid to 46.7 this month.
City University political scientist Dr James Sung Lap-kung said Tsang had an edge over Leung because he had served in the government for a long time. "Compared with Mr Tsang, who is a career civil servant, Mr Leung is not familiar with the operations of the government and the policy-making process, thus, making it more difficult for him to push forward his policies," said Sung.