Starry Lee sidelined DAB veteran Lau Kong-wah for 'super seat'
Academic says Beijing had hand in how votes were distributed among three loyalists
Veteran politician Lau Kong-wah failed to become a "super seat" lawmaker apparently because his party colleague, Starry Lee Wai-king, took away many of his potential votes in the New Territories, a South China Morning Post analysis of the Legislative Council election showed.
An academic believes the central government had a hand in the distribution of votes among the three Beijing-loyalist candidates.
Lee, who is also an Executive Council member, said she and Lau had stuck to the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong's strategy throughout the campaign.
"I did not hand out any leaflets or put up any banner in the New Territories," she said yesterday.
The DAB said in its election strategy that party vice-chairman Lau would canvass for New Territories votes, while vice-chairwoman Lee focused on Kowloon and Hong Kong Island in the hope of bagging two seats.
Lee won with 277,143 votes on Sunday, ranking second.