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In the UC election where competition was not at all keen, the leftists still adopted a low profile and refrained from active participation. This has brought about a further decline in the
turn-out rate. The leftists, however, are facing new problems themselves. Today, among the leftists themselves, the trend of definance is steadily gaining force and opinions are widely divided. It would be extremely difficult now to get members to listen to one voice telling them how to vote. This represents a weakening of the ability of the leftists in mobilizing their members to the polls. The leftists ought to have their own distinct characteristics and
style in order to attract their followers. If they allow these characteristics to be worn away in such a way that their political inclination and political platform become more or less similar with those of other parties, they will not only fail to attract new voters, but will lose their traditional supporters as well.
In any society, there are leftists, rightists and middle-of- the-roaders, with the last group making up the majority. Leftists do exist in Hong Kong, but what Hong Kong needs are not radical leftists
but mild and sensible leftists.
Role played by the leftlists in Hong Kong
What are the characteristics of the leftists? They are patriotic,full of zeal for the building up of their mother country and eager to put forth constructive criticisms. They strive for democracy, reason and equality, and always represent the interests of the majority. They are forever eager to make improvement and support the progressive enterprises. They have integrity, aspiration and career-mindedness; they are willing to dedicate themselves whole- heartedly to their work. The bureaucratic practices in the mainland and ways of doing things which estranged the party from the people should not be brought to the leftists in Hong Kong. On the contrary, Hong Kong's leftists should exert a positive influence in changing the prevailing undesirable habits of their mainland counterparts; to combat the evil trends which seriously jeopardize the "one country, two system" policy and undermine the relation between the Chinese government and Hong Kong