Four themes that have defined Hong Kong’s Legco elections tussles so far

Candidates in the Legislative Council elections have been crossing verbal swords at numerous forums over the past two weeks and yet no camp appears to be in the lead for a big win and no single issue seems to be capturing voters’ attention. At least that is the picture observers are painting at the halfway mark of the campaign in the run-up to polling day on September 4. Uncertainty and chaos marked the start of the hustings when six potential candidates advocating independence were banned under rules announced less than 48 hours before nominations began. And more than a dozen veteran lawmakers from parties across the spectrum left the scene. Entering it is a band of young localists, or candidates who demand varying degrees of greater autonomy from the mainland, leaving traditional pan-democrats anxious about losing ground. Here is a look at four issues defining the campaign so far:

The question of whether Leung Chun-ying deserved support for a second term once seemed like an albatross around the necks of pro-establishment candidates. In the February by-election, the pro-Beijing camp’s hot favourite Holden Chow Ho-ding was embarrassed time and again when he was grilled by Civic Party’s Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu on whether he would support the unpopular Leung to run again next year. Chow could not bring himself to answer either way, because his party had no stance and any answer was potentially costly. A “yes” could turn off undecided voters; a “no” could be risky because Beijing had not yet signalled whether it would back Leung. His ambivalence made him appear shifty.