szeto wah and other democrats ran in the first sar legislative council election in may 1998 in which szeto and li wah-ming won about 145,000 votes, taking two of the three seats in kowloon east. although the pro-democrats won 20 seats, their influence was balanced by the pro-beijing members elected through the 10-seat election committee constituency. szeto was re-elected in 2000 and decided to retire in 2004.