Already battered by the postponed listing of Link , the Hung Hom Peninsula fiasco and the growing controversy over the bidding for the West Kowloon Cultural District, the popularity of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and his government has slumped in the past month, a poll shows.

Results released on Monday of the Chinese University survey carried out last week show Tung's approval rating has slumped to 47.5 out of 100, a drop of 2.3 points in just a month. The poll of 809 participants was conducted by the university's Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies.

The number of respondents dissatisfied with the SAR government's performance soared by 6.9 per cent to 38.7 per cent, while those satisfied dropped by 3.3 percentage points to 15.1 per cent. Chief Secretary for Admin- istration Donald Tsang's support fell 2.2 points to 57.2, while Financial Secretary Henry Tang and Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung's ratings dipped slightly to 58.2 and 50.1 points respectively.

Centre co-ordinator Wong Ka-ying said the SAR's "unsatisfactory performance" in the West Kowloon project, Hung Hom and the Link Reit account for the responses.

michael.ng@globalchina.com

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