Tsang's votes in the race to be the next chief executive is more than four times the number received so far by Leong, who said last week he has been promised 111 nominations.

Tsang disclosed the score Sunday after inviting the 800 Election Committee members to attend his election forums and to sign up nomination papers at the same time.

The incumbent has hosted an election manifesto forum and held four meetings with committee members over the past three days at the JWMarriott Hotel Hong Kong in Admiralty.

Tsang's "successful" canvassing for votes has been attributed to a manifesto and tactics to win over committee members that his office says have been pragmatic and effective.

After each manifesto session, committee members were led by Tsang aides to a function room opposite the meeting hall, queuing up to sign nomination forms while Tsang stood at the other side of the room, thanking them for their prompt support.

As for the remaining 239 votes to be decided, Tsang is to go all out to woo pro-Beijing groups and parties.

He will visit the headquarters of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong today and the headquarters of the Liberal Party tomorrow. A total of more than 300 votes is certain to be received from the DAB, Liberal Party, Federation of Trade Unions, Heung Yee Kuk and The Alliance - with some of the votes having already been pledged to Tsang.

Summarizing the feedback to his manifesto, Tsang said he is encouraged by the satisfactory attendance of the 800 committee members who offered him constructive and useful remarks and advice for his blueprint for running Hong Kong in the next five years.

"I'm out to win the nominations, votes and, most important of all, the wholehearted support of the 800 for my manifesto," Tsang said.

Only two out of 25 pan-democracy lawmakers attended Sunday's closed- door session with Election Committee members from the the National People's Congress, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, district council and legislative subsectors.

Replying to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Wing-tat, Tsang said he will put forward any consensual proposal for universal suffrage in 2012 by the pan-democracy camp together with a mainstream proposal for public consultation in a green paper he is planning for the middle of this year.

He vowed to expedite democratic reform at the earliest possible date to resolve the political row and spare more energy and time for other pressing issues and to build a more harmonious society.

"Life is too short. Bringing full democracy to Hong Kong might be my greatest accomplishment in life," Lee quoted Tsang as saying.

Another pan-democracy lawmaker, Albert Cheng King-hon, said Leong lacks governing experience and that his reform platform will be no match for Tsang's.

Cheng expects Tsang to secure a vote from Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun although Tien has vowed not to cast a vote March 25.

Sing Tao News Corp chairman Charles Ho Tsu-kwok, who is also a CPPCC Standing Committee member, also pledged support for Tsang, but said: "I'm not good at calculating votes [like Tien], nor do I know how to cast a blank vote. What I'll do is to nominate and vote for Tsang."

At the weekend sessions, Tsang made additional commitments, vowing to kick off construction work on the West Kowloon cultural district project in his next term and table a concrete proposal this year.

He also proposed revamping the next ruling team, to be filled by younger and talented people in their mid-forties.

Other tycoons who attended included Wharf Holdings chairman Peter Woo Kwong-ching, a member of the CPPCC subsector, and Cheung Kong (Holdings) deputy chairman Victor Li Tzar-kuoi.

Li pledged support for Tsang, describing his platform as "well done and feasible," while New World Development vice chairman Henry Cheng Kar-shun also gave the thumbs-up.