The popularity of Hong Kong's legislators has slumped after two months of bitterness and bickering over electoral reforms, a survey indicated yesterday.
Both pro-democracy and pro-government legislators have seen their popularity ratings dip after the debate which saw a package of limited reforms proposed by the government rejected in December.
The defeat has been followed by bitter wrangling over the government's failure to include a timetable for democracy in the electoral reforms it asked legislators to endorse.
A University of Hong Kong poll published yesterday found the debate over the reforms have had a negative impact on voters in the city of 6.8 million, with democrats suffering the heaviest losses.
Prominent legislators opposing the reforms like Emily Lau (
However, supporters of the reforms like pro-business Liberal Party leader James Tien (田北俊) also saw ratings drop by a similar margin, according to the poll published in the South China Morning Post.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) issued a TV appeal for backing for the reforms before the Dec. 22 vote when pro-democracy legislators vetoed it.
They argued that the reforms did not go far enough and vowed to deny them the two-thirds majority needed to approve them unless they included a timetable for democracy.
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