Donald Tsang Yam-kuen may already have secured about 60 per cent of Election Committee nominations in his quest for a second term, but that did not stop him making an aggressive bid to undermine his opponent's support yesterday. He reminded pro-democracy accountants that although they had signed nomination forms for the Civic Party's Alan Leong Kah-kit, they could still change their minds. 'You can still cancel the nominations now and give them to me instead,' he said when he greeted members of the 20-seat sub-sector at his election office - directing his remarks at the seven who have signed up for Mr Leong, as quoted by one of them, Yuen Shu-tong. Apparently, it set them thinking. Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong said more time was needed to examine the rivals' election platforms. 'As neither side has yet submitted their nomination forms, we could still change our names,' Mr Leung said. Mr Leong was miffed. 'If Donald really asked those Election Committee members to shift their nominations to him, he's gone too far. He has already got 500 nominations, there's no need to add flowers to the brocade, the barrister said. Whichever way the democrats jump, Mr Tsang was able to heave a sigh of relief after receiving endorsement yesterday from accountancy heavyweight Paul Chan Mo-po - who with nine other committee members met Mr Leong over breakfast the day before. Meanwhile, Mr Tsang found time at Government House to meet his old boss Lord Patten - who was at pains to stress he was not meddling in the election. Environmental protection and trade were on the agenda, but not politics, Lord Patten told us. Nor were there any of the ex-governor's favourite snack, egg tarts. Every cent spent these days counts as election expenses.
