Ronny Tong says the democratic camp needs to understand it must fight as 'a single unit' Two days after securing his seat in last week's Legislative Council poll, Ronny Tong Ka-wah retained the exhausted and stressed-out look of a man who had been put through the mill and not quite come out the other side. Leaning on a chair in his Admiralty office, the newly elected lawmaker said: 'Maybe we expected a little bit too much. When I decided to join the race, my aim was to promote another seat, other than my own. That was the reason I ran in New Territories East. 'I failed to do that. I failed to deliver, and for that reason I'm disappointed.' Mr Tong was the third-placed candidate on the so-called 'diamond list' - an alliance of seven pro-democracy candidates in New Territories East. They won three seats, rather than the four they hoped for, with Wong Sing-chi being edged out. Mr Tong said that when he won the seat, his overwhelming thought was that it was a 'sad day for democracy in Hong Kong'. 'We were not able to ride on the momentum of the July 1 marches and November's district council elections,' the 54-year-old said. 'The DAB did much better than we did. They were aiming at 10 seats and they got 12,' he said. The pro-democracy camp only secured 25 out of the 60 seats - falling short of their target. Mr Tong said he was 'bitterly disappointed' over the defeat of Cyd Ho Sau-lan on Hong Kong Island. The senior counsel is known not only for his battles to protect the city's rule of law - especially during his tenure as the Bar Association chairman from 1999 to 2001 - but also for his singing and guitar skills: he once played in a band with Canto-pop legend Alan Tam Wing-lun. However, it was the battle over Article 23 legislation that shot him to fame, and propelled him into the political fray. After the national security bill was shelved, the Article 23 Concern Group, of which Mr Tong was a member, was transformed into the Article 45 Concern Group, and continues speaking out on constitutional reform issues. Since his election and that of three fellow concern group members, Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, Alan Leong Kah-kit and Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, they have faced endless questions over whether they plan to transform it into a formal political party. It was something they all had reservations about, he said. The strongest sense he took from the election was the importance of unity and leadership. 'The pro-democracy camp has no real strategy, no real leader, no real organisation ... If you really want to take on the DAB properly and get on top, you can't do that as a separate unit. You have to do it as a single unit.'