HONG KONG, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Jasper Tsang Yok-sing was elected the president of the fourth term Legislative Council (LegCo) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) here Wednesday.

    Tsang, member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), won 36 to 24 against Fred Li Wah-ming of the Democratic Party in a secret ballot by the 60 newly sworn- in members of the fourth term LegCo of the HKSAR.

    "The LegCo will face a lot of challenges in the coming four years," 61-year-old Tsang said in his brief speech after chairing the first session of the new term LegCo meeting, "I will do my utmost as the LegCo President to turn those challenges into our achievements for Hong Kong with other colleagues."

    According to the Basic Law, the President of the LegCo shall exercise powers and functions such as presiding over meetings; deciding on the agenda, giving priorities to government bills for inclusion in the agenda; deciding on the time of meetings; calling special sessions during the recess; calling emergency sessions on the request of the Chief Executive of HKSAR and other powers and functions of the president in the rules of the procedures of the LegCo.