Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai
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Possible chief executive contender Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai admitted she made a mistake by branding Executive Council convenor Leung Chun-ying an unsuitable candidate for the city's top job seven years ago.

Former Legislative Council president Fan, 66, said she had "said something wrong" and "gone overboard" when she described Leung as unsuitable to run.

Speaking in Beijing on the sidelines of the annual plenary session of the National People's Congress, the NPC Standing Committee member stopped short of saying she would make a bid for chief executive.

One recent poll placed her ahead of both Leung and another hotly tipped contender, Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen.

Declining to give a definitive answer on whether she would run or not, Fan said only: "I am too old." Speculation over her intention to run has been rumbling for some time.

An opinion poll conducted by the Hong Kong Transition Project in November last year found that she was the public's favourite candidate for the next chief executive, with 60 per cent of the 807 respondents saying they would support her. Tang was backed by 53 per cent and Leung 37 per cent.

The Beijing loyalist admitted she had been encouraged to run, and that no one had asked her not to.

Although she has never publicly confirmed an interest in the position, Fan has been openly known as a Leung sceptic. In her 2004 Legco election campaign, she said at a public forum that she did not find Leung a suitable candidate for the top job.

Asked in July last year whether that opinion still held, she said: "Have I ever told you that he is a suitable candidate for the chief executive?"

But yesterday she changed her stance: "I have said something wrong. I shouldn't have said this. I am just an ordinary citizen. I have gone overboard." Asked whether this meant she might now support Leung in next year's ballot, Fan, who as an NPC deputy has a vote on the Election Committee, said: "You will know when the election takes place whether I give him my vote or not."

She compared Leung and Tang to two horses in a race. "One is in an upbeat mood for a battle, working hard and is performing quite well in morning exercise. Another one, working in the government, appears easy and relaxed but may have high potential."

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