Appeal by People Power to cast blank ballots is malicious, Democrats say
Albert Ho says better to vote for pan-democrats than for no one, as suggested by People Power
The Democratic Party has called on voters to ignore a "malicious" appeal to cast blank ballots in Sunday's election for the Legislative Council "super seats".
The radical People Power group, which is not taking part in the election, has been campaigning for supporters to cast blank ballots as a protest vote.
The five seats, in a functional constituency for district councils, were created under 2010 electoral forms which People Power argues only served to stall Hong Kong's progress towards full democracy. Some 3.2 million voters - all those without a vote in any other functional constituency - will be eligible to cast ballots for the seats, giving the winners a bigger mandate than colleagues.
Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, who heads one of five slates of candidates vying for the seats - two individuals are also standing - urged people to vote for the pan-democratic camp to show their support for democracy.
"Those who came up with the so-called idea of casting blank ballots are exceptionally malicious," Ho said.
Three of the five slates are led by pan-democrats: Ho, his Democratic Party colleague James To Kun-sun, and Frederick Fung Kin-kee of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood.