Three former leaders of the Liberal Party – James Tien, Selina Chow and Miriam Lau – said they have quit the party after its central committee voted to abolish the post of honorary chair that they held.

The party said it had held numerous discussions on the matter since the beginning of the year, with some calling for a review of the arrangement.

The party's central committee voted unanimously to remove the honorary chair post at its meeting on Wednesday.

Tien said no one had discussed the matter with them, and that the way it was handled deviated from party tradition.

He said since current party leaders think the views and contributions of the former chairs are no longer valuable, it left him with no choice but to resign.

Chow said she felt offended by the decision, while Lau said she's disappointed with the way the current leadership moved to abolish the honorary chair position.

Party leader Tommy Cheung expressed regret over the trio's decision, and said chairman Peter Shiu was trying to persuade them to stay.

A fourth honorary party chair, Vincent Fang, also lost his position.

The Liberal Party was founded in 1993 by Allen Lee, Tien, Chow and others.