The pan-democrats could be the biggest losers from the redistribution of constituencies for the Legislative Council election if factional warfare within the camp continues.
With one seat in the five-seat Kowloon East constituency being removed and given to Kowloon West, making that a five-seat constituency, aspiring politicians being groomed by Beijing loyalists might get more chances to join the legislature.
In Kowloon East, the two sides are expected to share the seats. But the reduction of a seat will make it harder for a second-tier democrat to rise up.
In the 2004 election, the pan-democratic camp - which lumped candidates from different parties in some constituencies - said the proportional representation system favoured the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
This time it is likely that individual parties will not co-operate with their allies and will field their own lists of candidates, which is likely to make the DAB the biggest winner in Kowloon West. This could explain why Tsang Yok-sing, a veteran DAB legislator in the constituency, might consider taking a back seat in his party's list in Kowloon West to give more chances to younger party members, maximising the number of seats in the constituency.
'I have never said I will not join the race. Maybe I will rank second or third on our list,' he said.
