Estimates of the pan-democratic turnout vary from the organisers' 5,000 to 1,800 from the police

Hundreds of supporters from the pan-democratic camp took to the streets yesterday to protest against next Sunday's chief executive poll in which only the 796 members of the Election Committee can vote.

Civil Human Rights Front and its allies, which organised the march, said 5,000 people had taken part, while police put the estimate at 1,800.

A University of Hong Kong study found there were 4,000 to 4,700 people taking part. Head of the university's public opinion programme, Robert Chung Ting-yiu, said his researchers carried out a head count on a pedestrian bridge between Hennessy Road and Arsenal Street. But whatever the figures, they indicated a lukewarm public response.

In the democracy march on July 1 last year, organisers estimated the turnout at 58,000. In another rally in December 2005, a quarter of a million people turned out, according to the organisers' estimates.

Yesterday, the protesters denounced the system as being against democracy and demanded universal suffrage by 2012.

Led by chief executive candidate Alan Leong Kah-kit and his allies, they chanted slogans such as 'One man, one vote to elect the chief executive' and waved banners that read 'Give me back my vote' as they marched from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to government headquarters in Central.

At one point, about 200 protesters made a detour to stage a rally at Queen's Pier, to protest against the government's demolition plan.

At the end of the march tempers flared during a rally outside the Central Government Offices. Lawmaker 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung, of the League of Social Democrats, took to the stage and said those who helped with Mr Leong's election campaign were complicit in a small-circle election. He said the low turnout proved Mr Leong's campaign had been a failure. Emily Lau Wai-hing, of The Frontier, who also opposed Mr Leong taking part in the election, blamed march organisers for not doing a good job.

But Mr Leong argued that Hong Kong had already emerged as a winner despite the seemingly poor turnout.

'The number of people [taking part] will not affect the people's desire for universal suffrage. Imagine in 2012, [the chief executive candidates] cannot dream of becoming chief executive without going through what Alan Leong and Donald Tsang have gone through this time. Hong Kong will never be the same Hong Kong,' he added.

Participant, Cheung Fei, 67, of Tsuen Wan, said: 'The Chinese government likes to boast that Chinese people have stood up. But why do we not have universal suffrage?'

James Sung Lap-kung, a political scientist at City University, said: 'The low turnout might not necessarily mean Hong Kong people do not want universal suffrage. But it signals that they want the democrats to change their form of fighting for it.'

Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang declined to join the march but said she supported its goal - to achieve universal suffrage in 2012. Incumbent Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said taking part in marches was a way for Hong Kong people to express their views and he respected the people's rights, RTHK reported. He said he hoped to resolve the issue of universal suffrage in his next term if he was re-elected.

A government spokesman said the administration was 'taking active and concrete steps to take forward universal suffrage'. He said the Basic Law had set universal suffrage as the ultimate aim for Hong Kong's constitutional development.