Contender for chairmanship would end top-down leadership
Chan King-ming, running for the Democratic Party chairmanship in Sunday's election, yesterday vowed to break the tradition of a 'top-down' party leadership.
He also called for the separation of power between party legislators and party leaders.
But his opponent, vice-chairman Lee Wing-tat, said that in order to stay afloat, the party needed an experienced leader who had been through a Legco election. Both men are running to succeed the outgoing chairman, Yeung Sum.
Almost 100 party members attended the first public debate in the party's history between the candidates running for the chairmanship.
Forty-five candidates are running for key party posts on Sunday. Dr Yeung decided not to seek re-election to assume responsibility for the party's poor result in September's Legco election.
At the forum, Dr Chan, a Chinese University professor and head of the party's organisation branch, attacked the leadership for its 'top-down' approach, saying leaders had been unable to adequately listen to rank-and-file members who could do little to affect decisions.
