Civic Party's Alvin Yeung tipped to score narrow win in LegCo by-election

On Sunday, the contest for the vacant seat in the Legislative Council New Territories East geographical constituency was seen as a two-horse race between two young politicians from opposing camps.

Political pundits projected that Civic Party's Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu might win the by-election by a narrow margin over Holden Chow Ho-ding of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), filling the seat left vacant by last year's resignation of Barrister Ronny Tong Kah-wah.

Chow and Yeung, who were front-runners, had been endorsed respectively by the pro-establishment and mainstream opposition camps.

Exit poll released after 11 pm by the Hong Kong Research Association predicted a narrow win by Alvin Yeung - the Civic Party candidate was named by 33.2 percent of the 14,895 voter surveyed. Chow was chosen by 30.5 percent.

Alarmingly, the exit poll put radical "localist" group Hong Kong Indigenous' Edward Leung Tin-kei at third place (20.4 percent).

In the last legislative general elections in 2012, opposition candidates took 55 percent of the votes in New Territories East.

The other four candidates in this year's by-election were Lau Chi-sing, Nelson Wong Sing-chi of Third Side, Albert Leung Sze-ho, and Christine Fong Kwok-shan.

The by-election was triggered by former Civic Party member and lawmaker Ronny Tong, who resigned due to growing dissatisfaction with the opposition. He expected Yeung to win in the election, albeit not securing all the votes gained by the opposition in 2012.

Although pro-establishment heavyweights in LegCo had extended full support for Chow on Sunday, Tong noted that his odds of winning were still not large.

In Tong's view, radical Edward Leung's prospects were grim, but said his supporters might easily vote the activist into LegCo in September's elections.

Tong had told the media he hoped Yeung would fill his seat in LegCo. But, the former legislator, who cast his ballot in Sunday's poll, said it had become very difficult for him to vote for Yeung. "He's following exactly the Civic Party's stance on the copyright bill, filibustering and the Mong Kok riot - which is a world apart from me," Tong pointed out.

Ivan Choy Chi-keung, a senior lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Department of Government and Public Administration, expected certain middle-class voters to abstain from voting, or vote for other candidates like Christine Fong or Nelson Wong. Fong and Wong have billed themselves as moderate alternatives to the two camps.

joseph@chinadailyhk.com

Holden Chow Ho-ding (right), vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and a candidate in Sunday's Legislative aCouncil by-election in the New Territories East geographical constituency, greets supporters at a polling station in Tai Po. Roy Liu / China Daily

Election officials count the ballots at the HHCKLA Buddhist Ching Kok Secondary School in Tseung Kwan O on Sunday. Roy Liu / China Daily

(HK Edition 02/29/2016 page8)