Legco elections our last chance, says leader of moderate Hong Kong political party Third Side
Just months after forming, the middle-of-the-road democrats have failed to make an impact at polls and have been stonewalled by like-minded politicians
The chairman of the middle-of-the-road political party Third Side says the Legislative Council elections in September are its last chance of survival after the failure of plans to get like-minded politicians on board to expand its influence.
Third Side was humiliated in the February Legislative Council by-election when its candidate, veteran politician and former Democrat Nelson Wong Sing-chi, pulled in only 17,300 votes, roughly four per cent of the total.
By comparison, radical pro-independence localist Edward Leung Tin-kei, a political greenhorn, won more than 66,000 votes. The by-election was won by Civic Party candidate Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, who collected over 160,000 votes.
Party chairman Tik Chi-yuen conceded it learned “a good lesson” from the February defeat and said: “The September elections will be very crucial. If we still can’t win a seat, it would be very difficult for us to survive much longer. It will be hard to get donations if a party gets no seat in the council.”
Third Side raised HK$2 million at its inauguration party in January – enough to support its operations for one year. It would have to raise extra funds to support the election campaigns of its candidates, if any, in the coming elections.