Public opinion and the media's exposure of scandals have shaped the voting preference of the 1,193 Election Committee members like never before, experts say, with the decision on the next chief executive expected tomorrow.
The past months have seen the media expose everything from the illegal basement under a home owned by Henry Tang Ying-yen's wife to the notorious dinner attended by members of Leung Chun-ying's campaign team and a controversial businessman known as 'Shanghai Boy'. The dinner led to questions about 'black gold politics', or collusion with triads.
Many stories were credited to unnamed sources - leading to suspicion that rival candidates or their supporters were behind the negative attacks.
Dr Chung Kim-wah, an assistant professor of applied social sciences at Polytechnic University, said: '[The scandals] had a certain impact on Leung and Tang. But [the question of] whether Election Committee members may change their voting preferences due to public opinion still hangs in the air.'
He added: 'In Hong Kong's small-circle election, most people cannot vote [for their chief executive]. Their views can only be expressed by opinion polls. So beating rivals in popularity polls has become a way for candidates to gain political capital.'
The Liberal Party - originally a stronghold of support for its former member Tang, to whom it provided 62 nominations - said on Wednesday its members and allies would be given free choice between casting a blank vote or opting for Tang.