The Democratic Party is in dire need of a shake-up, its former vice-chairman, Dr Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, says.
Dr Cheung, ousted from power in an election challenge launched by a group of Young Turks, said the ballot had pushed the party's factional politics into the open.
He said factions were a healthy force, but the paramount task for the leadership was to reconcile and accommodate the differences in a constructive way.
Last week, a group of second-tier members named unionist Lau Chin-shek as a candidate for vice-chairman in their campaign for a more radical stance on social and grassroots issues.
They also are frustrated that power is vested with a small cell of senior members sitting in Legco.
Dr Cheung said yesterday: 'The existence of factions is healthy. If we are to become a party with 6,000 or 60,000 members, how can it be possible that there are no factions? 'But if our internal mechanism cannot turn the different views into driving forces, our strength will be eroded.' However, he said some criticism from the Young Turks was unfounded and unfair.