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Lau may run for top Hong Kong post

"It's unlikely I will be nominated -- you need the support of tycoons and Beijing for that."

Emily Lau, opposition Hong Kong lawmaker

Opposition Hong Kong lawmaker Emily Lau (劉慧卿) said yesterday she was considering running for the leadership of the Chinese territory to protest Beijing's overriding control in selecting the chief executive.

Lau, an outspoken critic of the former British colony's Beijing-backed government, said she may run to highlight the lack of democracy in a city where top leaders are effectively selected by mainland China.

"It would inject some kind of transparency into the small-circle election," Lau told reporters. "It would hopefully force some kind of debate."

An election committee of 800 Beijing loyalists will gather on July 10 to select the city's next chief executive. The by-election was forced after former leader Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) resigned citing health worries three weeks ago.

His deputy Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) has stepped in as interim leader but is a favorite to win the July poll.

Lau said she and fellow democrats agitating for full democracy in the enclave of 6.8 million people did not want to see a repeat of the last election when Tung ran unopposed.

"It was revolting, it was humiliating," said Lau. "We do not want to see anything like that again."

She faces an uphill struggle, however. First she will have to convince her own party, The Frontier, to drop its opposition to what it calls small-circle elections.

She will also seek the opinions of human rights groups and other non-governmental organizations that form her power base. Most difficult of all, however, she must be nominated by at least 100 members of the election committee.

"It's unlikely I will be nominated -- you need the support of tycoons and Beijing for that," Lau said. "But as a prospective candidate in the meantime I can at least draw some attention to the election."

Last week the leading democratic organization, The Democratic Party, said it would enter a protest candidate.

Democrats' deliberations come as controversy swirls over a decision to cut short the term of the next chief executive. Tsang announced after Tung's resignation that the government had decided the winner of the July 10 poll will serve only the remaining two years of the former leader's term.

Critics said the decision was in violation of the southern Chinese enclave's post-1997 handover constitution, which provides that all chief executives serve for five years.
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