The battle for the five Legco 'super seats' in September's election is heating up, with a heavyweight of the Beijing-friendly Federation of Trade Unions joining the fray last night. One of its two honorary presidents, Chan Yuen-han, will lead two other candidates in contesting the seats, which were created in the functional constituency for district councils as part of 2010 reforms that added 10 seats to the legislature. The other five are directly elected. The seats have been dubbed super seats because 3.2 million people citywide will cast ballots for them, giving the winners a bigger mandate than other legislators. Chan's rivals for the seats are likely to include legislators Lau Kong-wah and Starry Lee Wai-king of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong; Albert Ho Chun-yan and James To Kun-sun of the Democratic Party; and Frederick Fung Kin-kee, of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood. The federation's incumbent New Territories West lawmaker, Wong Kwok-hing, and labour-sector legislator Pan Pey-chyou will switch to the Hong Kong Island constituency. The FTU will field 27 candidates in total on eight tickets, its other honorary president, Cheng Yiu-tong, said. After its executive committee approved the line-up, Cheng dismissed fears that the FTU's support of Leung Chun-ying during the chief executive race might hurt their chances. The FTU's Kwai Tsing district councillor, Alice Mak Mei-kuen, and four colleagues, will run in New Territories West, while labour-sector legislator Ip Wai-ming and five others will contest New Territories East. Chow Luen-kiu, chairman of the Construction Industry Employees General Union, will run in Kowloon West on a ticket with Chan Kin-man. Incumbent Kowloon East lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin will lead three other FTU candidates in defending his seat. District councillors Bill Tang Ka-piu and Aron Kwok Wai-keung aim to succeed Ip and Pan in the labour sector. Nominations for the Legco election open on Wednesday. Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan admitted she risked losing her seat by ranking second on the party's Hong Kong Island ticket. Under the proportional representation system, candidates need a certain percentage of the vote - in 2008, 16 per cent - to secure a seat. Remaining seats are allocated to lower-ranked candidates on the tickets that win most votes.
