Second dissident quits Hong Kong's Democratic Party as Tik Chi-yuen seeks 'third way' to reform

Another dissident Democrat plans to quit the party he co-founded to form a think tank aimed at finding a "third way" for Hong Kong in the wake of the failed political reform.

Former lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen is the second veteran to leave the Democratic Party in three months after Nelson Wong Sing-chi - also a moderate - was expelled in July for urging legislators to accept a Beijing-decreed reform package for the 2017 chief executive election if certain conditions were met.

"I have wanted to keep it low profile to avoid giving the public an impression there is a split within the Democratic Party or our [new think tank] is trying to snatch people from the party," he said, adding he would tender his resignation this month.

Tik will form a new group with Wong and two other former Democrats in the hope of offering an alternative to Beijing loyalists and pan-democrats.

The Democrats last month became the first pan-democratic party since the reform vote to meet Feng Wei, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.

Chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing said yesterday: "If someone cannot side with the party's approach, it would be best to separate", adding it was unfair to call Wong and Tik "moderates" as that would imply her party was not. "The duo do not share the same cause with us," she said.