Bitter power struggle as election looms for Wo On Lok triad

Hong Kong's first "election" since Leung Chun-ying took over as chief executive is due to take place next month, but this ballot is about as far away from the respectable corridors of power as you can get.

In fact, you could call it a dysfunctional constituency.

In an eerie echo of the storyline of director Johnnie To Kei-fung 's hit 2005 movie Election, about a power struggle at the top of a triad gang, one of the city's most active triad groups - the Wo On Lok - has been locked in a bloody succession war as past and present leaders prepare to gather in a secret location to "vote" in a new leadership.

These machinations have helped reveal the city's often hidden underbelly. Anti-triad investigators say a series of violent incidents - one of which led to a traffic policeman shooting dead a knife-wielding thug in May - stems from the refusal of two leaders elected in 2009, nicknamed Fei Wai and Sam Chuen, to stand down in 2011.

The men who want to take over - known as Chi Fung and Dai Ma - took exception to the pair clinging on to power. In the latest attack, Fei Wai and his henchmen were set upon by a group of around 30 rivals in Ashley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, on the third day of the Lunar New Year.

Police responded five days later by raiding an entertainment venue controlled by the triad group and arresting 15 mainland prostitutes.