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Ambrose Leung

Beijing loyalists yesterday urged registered voters not to confuse the issues surrounding the by-election for the Hong Kong Island Legislative Council seat with those that could determine the district council elections.
The call came as democrats sought to highlight the similarities between the two elections.
Lau Kong-wah,  vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong,  accompanied his party's candidates for Central and Western district  as they signed up for the district council elections on  the first day of registration.
The total number of nominations received  was 309, compared with 380 on the first day of the nomination period for the 2003 district council elections.
'Although everyone's attention now is focused on Legco, I hope the public will not forget they have real choices to make in every district,' Mr Lau said.
But Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan  hoped his Hong Kong Island district council candidates would be able to find a way to 'synchronise' their campaigns with that of Anson Chan Fang On-sang, who is  facing  Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee in the race for the  seat left vacant by the death of  DAB chairman Ma Lik.
The difference in strategies highlights how the DAB hopes to concentrate voters' minds on district-level issues, where it holds an advantage.
In 2003 the party  suffered humiliating defeats in the district council elections after pan-democrats highlighted its  support for the controversial anti-subversion bill under Article 23 of the Basic Law.
District council candidates from the DAB this year are also stressing livelihood issues in their platforms rather than  their stance on universal suffrage. But for the pan-democrats, striving for dual universal suffrage in 2012  is a large part of district candidates' platforms.
Civic Party leader Audrey Eu Yuet-mee  said she hoped voters would recognise that the two elections were closely related, and that striving for dual universal suffrage as soon as possible would enable fairer distribution of resources to aid communities. 'If you do not have a fair distribution of voting power, you do not have a fair distribution of resources,'  she said.
Veteran Central and Western district councillor Kam Nai-wai,  who will register  today,  said Mrs Chan would benefit from any pan-democrat success in district council elections for the 80 Hong Kong Island seats. But synchronising the two campaigns could complicate the recording of election expenses. However, they would try to come up with a way of avoiding such confusion.
But Mr Lau dismissed suggestions that Mrs Ip's campaign, which is supported by the DAB, would help its chances in the districts. 'I do not consider that her campaign has resulted yet in any positive effect to our campaign,' he said.



Don't confuse issues, voters urged