Nominations difficult to get, says Lee Wing-tat Democratic Party chief Lee Wing-tat conceded last night that he faced an uphill struggle to find the nominations he needed to run in the election for chief executive. His decision to run came as a member of the House of Lords in Britain suggested that Hong Kong's legislature should elect the chief executive Mr Lee, who assumed party leadership in December, will need at least 100 nominations from the 800-strong Election Committee to be listed as a candidate. 'As a lot of the Election Committee members are not elected through popular means, their political views tend to be conservative,' he said. 'Also, we did not actively take part in the election for the last Election Committee. We did not make an effort to persuade people who share similar views with us to run.' Mr Lee said he decided to run for the post after Martin Lee Chu-ming, the party's founding chairman, rejected his plea to stand in the election. 'Martin said he did not want to run ... therefore, as party chairman, I feel I have a duty to take part in the election.' Mr Lee said his candidacy also served to promote a more positive image of his party to doubters. 'We just hope to use this election to dispel the misconceptions that the Democratic Party always opposes the government and has no policy of its own. In fact, we have the most comprehensive policy platform among the three main parties.' Mr Lee said his party would start campaigning for nominations once his proposed candidacy was approved by party members at a meeting next Sunday. He also said if others in the pro-democratic camp wanted to stand, the matter would be resolved by negotiations. Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun said this month a decision on whether to run would depend on his popularity and whether Beijing would allow a fair race. Acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, seen as a frontrunner for the post, has so far not indicated if he will run. Meanwhile, speaking at a conference on Comparative National Experiences of Autonomy at the University of Hong Kong, Lord David Steel shared the Scottish experience of autonomy, where the executive is elected by the legislature and then appointed by the queen. 'Your Legislative Council ought to have the same power to elect the new chief executive, and indeed a more enlightened government in the People's Republic of China would be sensible to allow that,' Lord Steel said. 'But I cannot see that on the horizon.' Constitutional expert Yash Ghai said Lord Steel's suggestion was better than the current arrangements for electing the chief executive, but it would mean a departure from the city's executive-led system of government to more of a parliamentary system. Lord Steel said the 'one country, two systems' concept had worked better than forecast by 'prophets of doom', but problems remained. 'The crucial questions for both Hong Kong and Taiwan are power and consent - making power properly accountable and setting limits to what can be done without general consent,' he said. Meanwhile, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung defended the government's request to the National People's Congress to interpret the Basic Law over the question of the next chief executive's term of office. He said the NPC Standing Committee's power of interpretation co-existed with the Court of Final Appeal's power of adjudication, and there was no contradiction between them.