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HONG KONG - ONE of Hong Kong's leading democrats, Ms Anson Chan, said on Sunday she wouldn't seek re-election in upcoming polls, striking a possible blow to the city's fractious pro-democracy movement at a difficult time.
Ms Anson Chan, a respected former head of the territory's civil service, dubbed Hong Kong's conscience by her backers, has been a thorn in the side of Beijing's Communist Party leadership, given her high profile and eloquent fight for universal suffrage.
Ms Chan's emergence from retirement last December to contest and win a symbolic legislative council by-election for a vacant seat gave a symbolic boost to the push for direct elections by 2012.
But after a fiery 8-month political baptism in the city's legislature, with Ms Chan often slammed by pro-Beijing officials and opponents, she decided to end her brief time in office.
'I will not be seeking re-election in the legislative council,' she told reporters, ending months of speculation over whether she'd seek a new 4-year term in September.
'At this point in time, it is best to make way for younger candidates, and that I can make a more valuable contribution to the evolution of democratically based government, working outside the legislative council,' Ms Chan told reporters, saying she'd still campaign for direct elections and back other election candidates.
While Ms Chan denied her withdrawal would hurt the prospects of the pro-democracy camp - which now holds more than a third of the city's 60 legislative seats - analysts say the democratic movement is at a low ebb, with resurgent pro-Beijing politicians strongly poised to exploit its sagging public support.
Beijing's December decision to categorically rule out direct elections until 2017 at the earliest took much of the wind out of a decade-long public push to realise universal suffrage by 2012.
Since Hong Kong's return from British to Chinese rule in 1997, Beijing has been loath to grant the city direct elections, despite a constitutional obligation to do so, with universal suffrage enshrined as an 'ultimate aim' in the city's Basic Law.
Another Democratic veteran, barrister Martin Lee, also recently said he'd quit legislative office after a 20 year career, exacerbating long-standing difficulties faced by Democrats in finding fresh political talent in the finance-dominated city. -- REUTERS
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