About-turn? DAB veteran Tam Yiu-chung tipped to become next president of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council

A veteran pro-Beijing lawmaker who had been planning to retire looks set to seek re-election in September and even become the next Legco president.

Tam Yiu-chung, a former chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong , has emerged as the best choice – or the least unacceptable to pan-democrats – to succeed the outgoing Jasper Tsang Yok-sing.

Since the handover, the key position has been taken up by lawmakers generally regarded as moderates in the pro-establishment camp, acceptable to most pan-democratic groups.

Tsang is also an ex-chairman of the DAB, considered Beijing’s most-trusted political party in the city. He will retire and focus his energy on a think tank he set up.

The name of Tam, who first entered the legislature in 1985, was floated by Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, a Business and Professionals Alliance lawmaker, when he met the media at a Lunar New Year gathering.

Asked about a possible successor to Tsang, Cheung first spoke about fellow BPA lawmaker Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, who as the Legislative Council’s house committee chairman assumed Tsang’s presidency seat whenever he was unavailable.

Praising Leung as someone who “dared confront pan-democrats”, Cheung added: “But I might offend Mr Tam by saying so.”