First HK democrat qualifies for leadership poll

HONG KONG, Jan 31 (Reuters) Pro-democracy politician Alan Leong has won a ticket to Hong Kong's leadership election in March, pitting him against Beijing's expected favourite in the first such contested poll since the city reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.

The Civic Party legislator said at a rally he had secured 111 nominations from an 800-member panel which will choose Hong Kong's next leader, surmounting an electoral rule seen to be heavily stacked in favour of pro-Beijing candidates.

''We started off thinking that we could not possibly get the entry ticket, now we got already 111 nominations,'' Leong said.

''This is a historic moment for Hong Kong.'' Leong's unexpected success in getting on the ballot will force an unprecedented electoral contest against Beijing-backed incumbent Chief Executive Donald Tsang, who is expected to formally declare his candidacy tomorrow.

While analysts still expect Tsang to win by a landslide in a secret ballot on March 25, they said Leong's candidacy would stir debate on democratic reform and pave the way for future contests.

No candidate from Hong Kong's pan-democratic camp has managed to get on the ballot sheet before, tripped up each time by a failure to secure a minimum 100 nominations from the election committee, whose members are largely sympathetic to Beijing.

Calling the last three months of campaigning a ''miraculous'' democratic journey, Leong said he hoped his candidacy would help Hong Kong realise direct elections by 2012.

While pan-democratic forces and the public have clamoured for universal suffrage, China's parliament decided in April 2004 that this would not be possible for the forseeable future.

Most of Hong Kong's seven million people will not get to vote for their city's leader.

Leong's nomination on a pro-democracy ticket takes Hong Kong politics into unchartered waters, with Beijing more accustomed to seeing its anointed candidates sail into office unopposed.

Former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa won unchallenged in 2002, as did Tsang, who stepped in after the unpopular Tung abruptly resigned in 2005, citing health problems. Tsang was formally elected in June 2005.

Only the first election won by Tung in late 1996 involved several contenders, though none from the pro-democracy camp.

Leong, who won a directly elected seat in the city's legislature in 2004, is a founding member of the Civic Party -- a rising new force in Hong Kong party politics.

''It's a good opportunity for him to accumulate more experience. It will strengthen his party, and promote the party's image,'' said Timothy Wong, a political analyst at Hong Kong's Chinese University.

REUTERS BDP DS1423