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Sara Yin

Hong Kong's politicians did battle over the weekend with the 60 Legco seats up for grabs in the city's fourth Legislative Council election.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) remained the biggest party in Legco with 10 seats in the election this year.
Pan-democrats took 23 seats  while the Liberal Party  lost  all its seats for geographical constituencies.
The  Liberals could only hold on to seven functional seats, making it the biggest loser in the election, with its chairman James Tien Pei-chun  losing his seat for New Territories and Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee  losing for New Territories West.
This led to the immediate resignation of both  members. Mr Tien and Ms Chow held a joint press conference yesterday to discuss  the result.
The pro-democracy camp  did manage to retain the crucial power to veto after securing more than a third of the available seats.
For the most part, there were few  unexpected results.  Pro-democracy heavyweights Audrey Eu Yuet-mee,  Emily Lau Wai-hing and Leung Kwok-hung,  better known as 'Long Hair', each retained seats in the new Legco. Pro-Beijing candidate Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee  also won a seat.
The politicians who scored the most votes were Lau Kong-wah  and Gary Chan Hak-kan  from the DAB who won 102,434 votes for New Territories East.
But there were some surprises. The anti-government party founded by Long Hair, the League of Social Democrats, won three seats in its first election. Another big winner was Cyd Ho Sau-lan,  a founding member of the leftist democratic Frontier Party, who regained a seat she lost in 2004. Ms Ho was chosen over her  pro-Beijing rival Choy So-yuk  from the DAB.
Altogether, 10  serving legislators lost their seats, including the Liberals' Mr Tien and Mrs Chow and the DAB's Ms Choy. Others on the losers' bench include Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions' Chan Yuen-han,  the Civic Party's Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung  and Mandy Tam Heung-man,  independent Lau Chin-shek,  Kwok Ka-ki  from the medical sector, Heung Yee Kuk's Daniel Lam Wai-keung  and the Democratic Party's Yeung Sum.
The DAB won 12 seats in the last Legislative Council election, but only managed to secure 10 seats this year, including the seven directly-elected seats for geographical constituencies. The three functional seats kept by DAB include Import and Export, Agriculture and Fisheries and District Council.
The new Legco will also introduce some fresh faces who campaigned heavily to win the youth vote. These include Nelson Wong Sing-Chi, a social worker returning for the Democratic Party, and the DAB's Starry Lee Wai-king  and Gary Chan.
The distribution of power among the different parties was 'more or less the same'  as the previous council, said Dr Lam Wai-Man, a political science professor at Hong Kong University.
Legco, now in its fourth term, advises the government on policies ranging from environmental affairs to IT. The council comprises 60 seats, only 30 of which are directly elected by the public. The other 30 are elected by business and trade groups. Last year, pan-democrats held 25 seats. This year's elections were particularly tough for them without the presence of two star figures, Martin Lee Chu-ming   and Anson Chan Fang On-san.
Voter turnout was also especially low this year. Only  45 per cent of voters (about  1.52 million people) went to the polls on Sunday, 260,000 people less than in 2004.
Experts said the lower voter turnout could be attributed to better economic conditions and the lack of clear election issues.
'Despite their internal strife, the pan-democrats are still quite consolidated in their influence among the public,' Dr Lam added. 'The results are not surprising at all.'
Regarding their success in the election, DAB's chairman Tam Yiu-chung said their nurturing of new blood had contributed to their  succesful performance.
Amid the cut-throat competition, the Electoral Affairs Commission received around 2,000 complaints which mostly involved rule-breaking canvassing activities.
In the heat of election, contenders often leave no stone unturned in their quest to get the last-ditch votes and rule-breaking canvassing happens every year.
Asked about the fact that certain parties arranged cars to transport voters to polling stations, Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Justice Pang Kin-kee said  problems would not arise as long as people did not canvass and affect the voting decision of voters in the cars.
Additional reporting  by Elaine Yau



Few election surprises as DAB holds on