Democracy has its price, and sometimes even those committed to fighting for universal suffrage can't afford it. This is illustrated by a drama quietly playing out behind the scenes of the pan-democrats' bickering over aspects of political reform and questions over whether their Alliance for True Democracy can survive. Welfare sector lawmaker Peter Cheung Kwok-che - one of the 26 pan-democrats making up the alliance - has confirmed that the union he heads might not join the alliance as planned - not because of its political stance but due to financial difficulties. "The alliance has required all parties or associations the lawmakers represent to hand in a sum of money [for running costs and publicity]," Cheung said. "We have stated our difficulties and the alliance has generously offered us a lower fee … but still, the sum is a lot for our union." Alliance convenor Professor Joseph Cheng Yu-shek lamented that pan-democrats in general were very poor, but said the union would not be sidelined.

With the consultation on constitutional reform ending on Saturday, plenty of political groups are preparing proposals. But amid the stampede, one idea stands out. Industrial sector lawmaker Lam Tai-fai has suggested a seeding system, much like in tennis. Under his plan, the current chief executive or any of the five "super seat" district council functional constituency lawmakers could stand without being nominated by the nominating committee. "The arrangement [would prevent them] from using public time and resources to lobby for support," Lam said.