HONG KONG : Martin Lee, one of the spearheads of Hong Kong's democracy movement for the past 20 years, said Friday he will step down from his seat in the territory's legislature.

"In June I will be 70 - it is time to get some new blood. No one person is indispensable," Lee, who was a founding member of the city's Democratic Party, told AFP by phone.

He will step down from the city's Legislative Council when his term ends in July, he said.

Lee has been at the forefront of the movement to introduce universal suffrage in Hong Kong, which was transferred back to China in 1997 from colonial power Britain with a guarantee democracy would be introduced.

However, the introduction of voting rights has faced delays from Beijing, which late last year said the city's chief executive could be fully elected in 2017 at the earliest.

Lee said the failure to ensure universal suffrage in Hong Kong was his biggest regret.

"But I will fight until my body has no breath left," said the lawyer.

"I think it is ridiculous to have to wait for 10 years before being given democracy."

Hong Kong only selects 30 of its 60 legislators by universal suffrage.

The remainder, and the city's chief executive, are chosen by around 800 mainly pro-Beijing elites, including business and industry representatives.

Lee was part of the team that drafted the Basic Law document aimed at guiding the city's transfer from British to Chinese rule before he resigned in protest at the crackdown by Chinese authorities on a 1989 protest in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. - AFP/ch