Lau Chin-shek was last night chosen to head the Democratic Party election list in the Kowloon West constituency, despite an earlier decision by members to put him in third place.
The decision was taken at a three-hour meeting by 30 central committee members to finalise the team for the geographical poll.
Vice-chairman Dr Yeung Sum said the leadership had decided to name the veteran unionist to face rivals including Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong chairman Tsang Yok-sing and Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood head Frederick Fung Kin-kee.
It is one of the three geographical seats where members' decisions at the December 14 extraordinary general meeting were not adhered to.
Mr Lau came third with 116 votes, beaten by James To Kun-sun and Eric Wong Chung-ki.
In the NT West seat, the members' second favourite, Lee Wing-tat, will now top the list. He swapped places with Albert Ho Chun-yan.