Victor Sit says he admires Lee Wing-tat's courage and wants a real race for top job Donald Tsang Yam-kuen suffered an embarrassing blow on his last day of campaigning to become chief executive when a veteran deputy to the National People's Congress gave his backing to Democratic Party chief Lee Wing-tat. Mr Tsang is expected to file his nomination form to the Registration and Electoral Office by noon today after visiting Chinese University's faculty of medicine at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin. The former chief secretary has secured close to 700 nominations from the 796 voters on the Election Committee and will be returned uncontested when the two-week nomination period closes tomorrow. He is expected to fly to Beijing next week to receive the State Council's appointment letter installing him as chief executive. Mr Tsang said on Metro Radio's phone-in show Power Talk yesterday that he would continue canvassing for nominations 'until I am sure I can't win the support of those Election Committee members who have not yet given me their nominations'. But he has already failed to win the support of Victor Sit Fung-shuen, a veteran Hong Kong deputy to the NPC. Professor Sit, of the University of Hong Kong's department of geography, told the South China Morning Post he gave Mr Lee his nomination yesterday. 'I would like to see a genuine contest in the chief executive race. I really appreciated Mr Lee's courage in standing in the election.' Professor Sit said he told Mr Tsang on Monday that he would not nominate him for the top job. 'I told Donald it was meaningless for him to grab 700 nominations,' he said. 'Forcing the Election Committee members to make their positions known through the nomination process amounts to a distortion of the election system. 'The committee members should be free to select a new chief executive by secret ballot without facing any pressure. Any strong candidate who has high ideals should stop canvassing after winning 100 or 200 nominations, to give other contenders a chance to enter the race.' Stressing he had no grudge against Mr Tsang or any doubt about his competence, Professor Sit said his move was aimed at protecting the integrity of the electoral system. 'Donald should learn the lesson of Tung Chee-hwa, who grabbed more than 700 nominations to be returned unopposed three years ago,' he said. 'The overwhelming support from the Election Committee for Mr Tung did not necessarily mean he enjoyed the wholehearted support of the committee members and the community.' The Democratic Party chairman described Professor Sit's nomination as 'most surprising'. 'I didn't expect he would support me. I would have thought there was pressure for him to not nominate me,' Mr Lee said. Describing Professor Sit's action as a very positive sign, he said: 'It shows that there are people in the pro-Beijing camp who dislike Donald.' Mr Lee, who admitted he did not expect to secure the 100 nominations required to stand in the election, said he had sent out letters to all local NPC deputies two weeks ago. Only a few offered to meet him and Professor Sit was the only one who had endorsed his bid.