Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, chairman of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA), said if pro-establishment lawmakers maintain majority seats in the Legislative Council after the September election, it will be helpful to the efficient operation of the legislature and also effective governance.

He hopes the pro-establishment camp will retain the same number of 43 seats - and it will be even better if they win more seats in the LegCo election.

Excessive filibusters and aborted meetings during the 2012-16 legislative term have affected LegCo's operation and harmed its image, yet it is not easy to amend the Rules of Procedure, Leung noted. He suggested the new LegCo president must talk to all the legislators including the "pan-democrats" to find the way out and the way forward.

Leung represents the Industrial (First) functional constituency. He is entering his fourth consecutive term as a lawmaker, having won the election without opposition. The BPA is the second-largest political party with seven lawmakers in 2012-16, second only to the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

For the upcoming election, two of his BPA colleagues are also uncontested winners in the functional constituencies. However, four other colleagues are still working hard to retain their seats in geographical and functional constituency elections.

"The situations in geographical constituency elections are changing very fast. At present the scene is relatively quiet but we don't know if the 'pan-democratic' camp will play up any issues to boost their campaigns," he told China Daily.

Regarding the rolling poll which is commissioned by three media organizations, Leung criticized the poll results as highly fluctuating. He suspected the pollster paints a gloomy picture for the opposition candidates in order to urge people to vote for them.

"It is not too trustworthy because there are many deviations. BPA candidates should work hard to lobby for support, without trusting the poll entirely," he commented.

joseph@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 08/26/2016 page9)