DAB Vice-chairman Cheung Kwok-kwan (left) and Secretary General Thomas Pang brief the media on a poll it conducted to gauge public opinions on the five opposition lawmakers' resignation plan. Edmond Tang

DAB poll also indicates voter turnout is likely to be small if by-elections held

HONG KONG: The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) urged the five opposition legislators to withdraw their resignations after a survey it conducted shows that only 28 percent of respondents support the action. Central committee of the DAB will hold a meeting tonight to decide whether or not to contest the by-election.

The random telephone survey, conducted between January 23-24 among 327 Hong Kong residents aged 18 or above, reveals that only 28 percent of the respondents support and nearly 55 percent oppose the resignation action proposed by the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats, while 61 percent of the respondents believe the action will stir up controversy in Hong Kong.

Nearly 70 percent of the respondents assume the action will negatively influence relations between Hong Kong and the Central Government.

Seventy-two percent of the respondents think that the resignation will bring Hong Kong nothing but a waste of taxpayers' money. It is estimated that the by-elections in five geographical constituencies would cost HK$150 million.

Moreover, half of the respondents agree that the Legislative Council should ban arbitrary resignation and participation by the same legislators in the subsequent by-elections.

As more than half of the respondents voiced their objections to the resignation, only 35 percent of the respondents said they will vote in the by-elections, while 46 percent of them say they definitely will not vote at all.

"It is dangerous to have only 35 percent saying they will vote. Consider the DAB's experience in the past 10 years, around 70 percent to 80 percent of respondents said they would vote, but there was only a 50 percent turnout rate," said Thomas Pang, the Secretary General of the DAB, who added, "We can assume a very low voting rate in the by-elections, given that 35 percent of respondents said they would vote."

When asked whether the respondents should treat the by-election as a mere by-election or the so-called de facto referendum, 42 percent of them regard it as the former and nearly 36 percent treat it as the latter.

Respondents hold opposite views regarding the opposition's slogan of a "civic uprising". Among those surveyed, 43 percent of them agree that the slogan promotes the idea of independence while 45 percent disagree.

Cheung Kwok-kwan, vice-chairman of the DAB, said, "The resignation itself has stirred up social discord and will cause conflicts to widen."

"Therefore, the DAB urges the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats to immediately stop this action that can only be detrimental to Hong Kong," Cheung added.

"The Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats should think twice before they act and they should apologize for causing social conflicts," Cheung said.

Cheung stressed that the central committee members of the party hold different views on whether or not to contest the by-elections. "We need to attend to and consider Hong Kong's and the DAB's benefits at the same time; therefore, we shall have the decision after the meeting," he said.

Pang said that DAB would take the poll result into consideration, but it is not the sole factor for deciding whether they will join the by-elections.

(HK Edition 01/26/2010 page1)