More candidates have emerged for the Legislative Council by-elections next month, ahead of the deadline for nominations tomorrow.
But political academics say the numbers will not result in more heated competition because there is still a lack of heavyweight competitors running against five former lawmakers from the League of Social Democrats and the Civic Party who resigned to trigger the polls. By yesterday, 18 people had filed their candidacies or expressed a firm intention to stand.
Among the latest to declare was Spencer Tai Cheuk-yin, a core member of the pro-Taiwan camp. A standing committee member of the Kuomintang's local branch and a former chairman of the defunct pro-Taiwan 123 Democratic Alliance, Tai said he would submit his nomination on Hong Kong Island today.
No pro-Taiwan candidate has won in an election since the alliance's former legislator Lawrence Yum Sin-ling lost his seat in 1998. Tai's platform includes fighting for a road map for universal suffrage, abolition of functional constituencies, and raising awareness of the importance of the Hong Kong-Taiwan relationship.
In Kowloon West, the most crowded constituency so far, Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association vice-chairman Wilson Shea Kai-chuen announced that he would file as an independent today.
Shea said he hoped to be a voice for small and medium businesses. He also supports dual universal suffrage in 2012 and the scrapping of functional constituencies. 'Many businesspeople are capable of running in direct elections. But the present functional constituency lawmakers often fail to represent small and medium enterprises. I think their seats can be abolished,' Shea said.
