in 2009, the radical democratic league of social democrats (lsd) proposed the resignation of the pro-democracy legislator in each geographical constituency to trigger a territory-wide "de facto" referendum called the "five constituencies referendum" over the 2012 constitutional reform package. szeto initially said it was considerable and suggested the democratic party to actively respond to it. however, after a period of observation, szeto believed the true intention of the lsd was to take over the leadership of the democracy movement as they had aggressively attacked other allies within the camp. szeto then shifted his stance on the movement and actively opposed the proposed plan. in december 2009, the democratic party voted down the proposal to join the movement. as the pro-beijing parties boycotted the by-elections, the turnout rate was only 17 per cent.