Ma Lik is one of Hong Kong's better politicians, which isn't saying much. The people's SCMP dutifully reports on Ma's clever upping of expectations for the number of votes the evil democrat Alan Leong will receive in the Chief Executive election...

DAB chairman Ma Lik expects Alan Leong Kah-kit to grab up to 200 of 800 votes in the chief executive election in March, but says Mr Leong is not suitable for the post...Mr Leong was someone who was "not too friendly" with the central government and who opposed the National People's Congress Standing Committee's reinterpretation of the Basic Law, and Mr Ma asked: "Can such a person with a total lack of ruling experience lead Hong Kong?"

By saying Leong is going to get up to 200 (out of 7 million citizens, 200 votes should be a rounding error, rather than 25% of the votes needed to win), falling short of this target makes Leong look like a loser. While the democratic camp will talk down their expected result, the pro-Beijingers will talk it up. No, don't try thinking about it too much as it doesn't make any sense. Bear in mind The Don still hasn't got around to nominating, even though he's setting up a 12 person election office today. What do these 12 people actually do? There's only 800 people they have to canvass, and most of their minds are already made up (or made up for them). It's all about the spectacle rather than the result.

In Ma Lik's world, it would be disasterous to have someone who believes the Basic Law should stand as it is not be subject to reinterpretation on a whim. It seems the DAB is campaigning on a platform opposing the rule of law.

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