The ecstasy of the agony aunt in scoring a pre-poll point against the former socialite

Fresh from their altercations on Thursday, by-election rivals Pamela Pak Wan-kam (left) and Lam Yi-lai (right) were back at each other's throats again yesterday. While debating on an RTHK radio forum, Lam, 51, abruptly cited Article 61 in the Basic Law. 'What about it?' said Pak, a former agony aunt and popular talk show host.

'Tell me what it is,' Lam demanded. 'You can't because there is no such thing as Article 61.' But Lam's triumph was short-lived. The radio host took out a copy of the mini-constitution and read aloud the article in question.

Actually, Article 61 states that principal officials of the government must be Chinese citizens with permanent residency and no foreign passports. This should have been well-known because of the controversy over the hiring of political assistants and deputy secretaries and whether they were allowed to hold foreign citizenship. They are.

An embarrassed Lam - who is a former socialite and is campaigning to outlaw the keeping of mistresses - then cited article numbers randomly and demanded that Pak explain them. The host intervened and said Pak did not need to answer.

On Thursday, Lam confronted lawmaker Paul Tse Wai-chun, who tried to burst into the Commercial Radio studio to protect his longtime partner Pak, whom he believed was being abused by by-election frontrunner Wong Yuk-man during a debate.