Lesser-known candidates get boost after exit of big names

With three of its incumbent lawmakers leaving to fight the citywide 'super seats', the Kowloon West constituency will see veterans who missed out in the 2008 Legislative Council poll take on up-and-coming politicians looking to capitalise on the departure of their big names.

The Civic Party's Claudia Mo Man-ching is in the former camp. She missed out by 2,655 votes last time, with Beijing loyalist Priscilla Leung Mei-fun pipping her to the fifth seat in the smallest of the five geographical constituencies.

'I think the voters look more to the people rather than the party when they cast their ballot. Surely it is an advantage for me when both James To [Kun-sun] and Frederick Fung [Kin-kee] left,' said Mo.

Fung of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood and To of the Democratic Party will both fight for the 'super seat' - elected by a ballot of all those not eligible to vote in any other functional constituency. They will take on Starry Lee Wai-king, an executive councillor and a vice-chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, whose slate topped the poll last time.

Their defection has put a new twist on the race in the only geographical constituency not to secure extra seats in the aftermath of the electoral reform package approved in 2010.

Mo said her hopes were boosted by the departure of the three lawmakers and also of two candidates who won almost 24,000 votes between them despite being defeated in 2008; Liberal Michael Tien Puk-sun (who is running in New Territories West) and Lau Chin-shek. But the Democrats, the ADPL and the DAB are all fielding new faces.