Alan Leong has 18pc support to run for top job: survey
Civic Party legislator Alan Leong Kah-kit has won more than 18 per cent support in his bid to challenge Donald Tsang Yam-kuen in the chief executive race, according to a Chinese University survey.
The poll, conducted from Monday to Wednesday, also showed Mr Tsang's popularity rating and public support for his re-election have plunged to the lowest levels since he became chief executive.
The survey by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese University covered 802 respondents, with a sampling error of 3.46 per cent at a confidence level of 95 per cent.
While most still backed Mr Tsang for a second term if there was no challenger, those opposing his re-election rose 5.2 percentage points to a record high of 19.6 per cent. Support for his re-election dropped correspondingly to 63.9 per cent, the lowest since he assumed office in June last year.
When polled against Mr Leong, Mr Tsang's support rate dropped further to 59.5 per cent, but he still leads the barrister-lawmaker with a comfortable margin of more than 41 percentage points.
This is the first time the institute has tested Mr Leong's support rate instead of former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang and Civic Party leader Audrey Eu Yuet-mee.
Mr Leong's support rate of 18.1 per cent is comparable to that of Ms Eu, ranging from 15 to 18.2 per cent over the past few months. But he is at least six percentage points behind Mrs Chan, who announced last month she would not run.
Meanwhile, Mr Tsang's rating has dropped 3.8 points from September to a new low of 62.8 out of 100 marks in the latest poll.
Li Gang , deputy director of the central government's liaison office, said anyone who met the qualification laid down in the Basic Law could run for chief executive.
He said the central authorities would not interfere with the Election Committee polls to be held in December.
Pollster Timothy Wong Ka-ying said the chief executive still enjoyed lopsided support over Mr Leong, even though the level had dropped significantly over the past month.
The academic also noted that the policy address had apparently failed to boost Mr Tsang's flagging popularity.
'Instead of boosting his rating, the policy speech has fuelled pressure,' he said. The policy speech scored 56 out of 100, compared to Mr Tsang's first score of 64 last year.
