1999 Hong Kong local elections explained

Election Name:1999 Hong Kong local elections
Country:Hong Kong
Type:parliamentary
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1994 Hong Kong local elections
Previous Year:1994
Next Election:2003 Hong Kong local elections
Next Year:2003
Seats For Election:All Elected Constituencies
390 (of the 519) seats in all 18 Districts Councils
Election Date:28 November 1999
Registered:2,832,524 15.60%
Turnout:816,503 (35.82%) 2.71pp
Leader2:Tsang Yok-sing
Party2:Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong
Alliance2:Pro-Beijing camp
Last Election2:37 seats, 11.82%
Seats2:83
Seat Change2:27
Popular Vote2:190,792
Percentage2:23.53%
Swing2:11.82pp
Leader1:Martin Lee
Party1:Democratic Party (Hong Kong)
Alliance1:Pro-democracy camp
Last Election1:75 seats, 23.01%
Seats1:86
Seat Change1:13
Popular Vote1:201,461
Percentage1:24.85%
Swing1:1.69pp
Leader3:Frederick Fung
Party3:Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood
Alliance3:Pro-democracy camp
Last Election3:29 seats, 6.95%
Seats3:19
Seat Change3:1
Popular Vote3:38,119
Percentage3:4.70%
Swing3:2.25pp
Leader4:Ambrose Lau
Party4:Hong Kong Progressive Alliance
Alliance4:Pro-Beijing camp
Last Election4:12 seats, 4.19%
Seats4:16
Seat Change4:1
Popular Vote4:23,168
Percentage4:2.86%
Swing4:1.33pp
Leader5:James Tien
Party5:Liberal Party (Hong Kong)
Alliance5:Pro-Beijing camp
Last Election5:18 seats, 7.39%
Seats5:15
Seat Change5:2
Popular Vote5:27,718
Percentage5:3.42%
Swing5:3.98pp
Leader6:Lau Kong-wah
Party6:Civil Force
Alliance6:Pro-Beijing camp
Last Election6:10 seats, 1.77%
Seats6:11
Seat Change6:2
Popular Vote6:19,633
Percentage6:2.42%
Swing6:0.65pp
Leader7:Yum Sin-ling
Party7:123 Democratic Alliance
Alliance7:Pro-democracy camp
Last Election7:5 seats, 2.01%
Seats7:6
Popular Vote7:11,396
Percentage7:1.41%
Swing7:0.60pp
Leader8:Emily Lau
Party8:The Frontier (Hong Kong)
Alliance8:Pro-democracy camp
Last Election8:New party
Seats8:4
Seat Change8:1
Popular Vote8:9,388
Percentage8:1.16%
Swing8:N/A
Leader9:Leung Yiu-chung
Party9:Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre
Alliance9:Pro-democracy camp
Last Election9:1 seat, 0.13%
Seats9:2
Popular Vote9:3,295
Percentage9:0.41%
Swing9:0.28pp
Map Size:400px

The 1999 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 28 November 1999 for all 18 districts of Hong Kong, for 390 members from directly elected constituencies out of total 519 council members. It was the first District Council election after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, replacing the existing Provisional District Councils appointed by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

The pro-Beijing camp scored fairly well in the election, with the flagship pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), improved its performance in catching up with the Democratic Party, the largest pro-democracy party. The Democratic Party sustained its political momentum by securing 24.9 per cent of the votes as compared to 22.8 per cent in 1994. The DAB and the Democratic Party became the largest parties in the District Councils, while DAB captured 83 seats out of 176 candidates, the Democratic Party captured 86 out of 173 candidates. The pro-grassroots pro-democracy party, the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), appeared to lose some popular support from 7 per cent of the total vote in 1994 to 4.7 per cent in 1999.

Overall, the pro-democracy forces failed to enhance their influence and outperform the pro-Beijing camp.[1] After the election, Tung Chee-hwa reintroduced appointed members to the District Councils, appointing 102 pro-government members to prevent the pro-democracy camp from dominating the councils.

Overview

In comparison to the 1994 District Board elections, the pro-Beijing camp improved their performance and closed the gap with the pro-democracy camp. Although the Democratic Party maintained its share of votes, its success rate decline slightly due to the fct the party nominated far more candidates than it had in the 1994 elections. The Democratic Party contested directly with the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the pro-Beijing party, in 96 constituencies, of which 54 were won by the Democrats, 36 by the DAB contenders and 6 by other candidates. Incumbents changing their constituencies such as Stanley Ng Wing-fai in Yau Tsim Mong District and Shirley Ho Suk-ping in the Sha Tin District were defeated by the pro-Beijing candidates.[1]

Other pro-democracy parties such as the 123 Democratic Alliance and the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) failed to achieve any breakthrough in elections. The 123 Democratic Alliance increased both its success rate and the number of candidates, but only winning 6 seats. It remained a small party and was eventually dissolved in 2000 due to the lack of financial support from the Taiwan government. The ADPL filled less candidates partly due to some ADPL defecting to the Democratic Party in 1997 after the internal dispute over the question of joining the Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council. The ADPL failed to penetrate into other districts apart from its political base at Shamshuipo. The Frontier and the Citizens Party remained uninterested in the local elections, with the Frontier nominated only 9 candidates to compete in Sha Tin and Eastern districts, of which 4 of them were elected. The Citizens Party had only Chan Tim-shing elected in the Eastern District.[1]

The pro-Beijing camp relied on the DAB to counter the pro-democracy forces. The DAB drastically increased its numbers of candidates from 83 in 1994 to 176 in 1999. Its success rate also rose from 44.6 per cent to 47.2 per cent, contributed by the strong grassroots work of the DAB candidates. The pro-business Liberal Party improved its performance by lower its candidates form 89 to 34, with success rate rising from 20.2 to 44.1 per cent. The Liberal Party recruited some candidates with strong grassroots networks prior the elections to compensate its weakness in district works. The party leaders, such as Chairman James Tien Pei-chun, legislators Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee and Howard Young also contested in the elections, though Chow was defeated.[1] The Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (PA) strategically merged with the Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong (LDF), nominating fewer candidates and improving its performance by winning 16 as compared to 12 in 1994. The stronghold of PA remained in the Kowloon City District, with the expansion of its influence to Sai Kung and Sha Tin districts. The Shatin-based Civil Force slightly increased its number of seats but saw a decline in its success rate.[1]

Results

General outcome

|-! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=3 |Political Affiliation! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Popular vote! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |%! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |%±! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Standing! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Elected! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |±|-| style="background-color:Pink;border-bottom-style:hidden;" rowspan="8" || width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong|190,792 || 23.53 || 11.82 || 176 || 83 || 27|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Hong Kong Progressive Alliance| 23,168 || 2.86 || 1.33 || 25 || 16 || 1|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Liberal Party| 27,718 || 3.42 || 3.98 || 34 || 15 || 3|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Civil Force|19,633 || 2.42 || 0.65 || 14 || 11 || 2|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions|1,074 || 0.13 || - || 1 || 1 || 1|-|style="background-color: "|| style="text-align:left;" | New Territories Heung Yee Kuk|942 || 0.12 || - || 1 || 1 || 0|-|style="background-color: "|| style="text-align:left;" | Hong Kong Chinese Reform Association| - || - || - || 1 || 1 || 0|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" | Independent and others| 177,774 || 21.92 || - || 180 || 104 || 4|- style="background-color:Pink"| colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" | Total for pro-Beijing camp || 443,441 || 54.69|| - || 436 || 232 || 22|-| style="background-color:LightGreen;border-bottom-style:hidden;" rowspan="8"|| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Democratic Party|201,461 || 24.85 || 1.69 || 173 || 86 || 13|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood|38,119 || 4.70 || 2.25 || 32 || 19 || 1|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |123 Democratic Alliance|11,396 || 1.41 || 0.60 || 10 || 6 || 0|-|style="background-color: "|| style="text-align:left;" |Frontier|9,388 || 1.16 || - || 9 || 4 || 1|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre|3,295 || 0.41 || - || 3 || 2 || 0|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Citizens Party|2,072 || 0.26 || - || 1 || 1 || 0|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" |Hong Kong Democratic Foundation|1,392 || 0.17 || 0.42 || 1 || 1 || 0|-| width=1px style="background-color: " || style="text-align:left;" | Independent democrats| 58,706 || 7.24 || - || 54 || 38 || 7|- style="background-color:LightGreen"| colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" | Total for pro-democracy camp || 325,829 || 40.18 || - || 283 || 157 || 22|- style="background-color:#DDDDDD;"| colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" |Independent and others| 41,593 || 5.13 || - || 79 || 1 || 0|-|style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3"|Total (turnout 35.82%)|width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|810,863|width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|100.0|style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|-|style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|798|style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|390|style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9"|44|}Note1: The total seats of the District Councils are 519 including 27 ex-officio members (Rural Committee Chairmen in the New Territories), and 102 members appointed members by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
Note2: Councilor Lau Kong-wah who ran under both DAB and Civil Force banners is counted as a DAB member in this chart.

Results by district

CouncilPost-election controlLargest partyDPDABADPLPALibCF123DATFPro-demAppointed
& ex officio
Composition Details
Pro-Beijing531158bgcolor=Pink 7bgcolor=Pink 4Details
Wan ChaiPro-Beijing2bgcolor=#98c3f1 3152bgcolor=Pink 93Details
EasternPro-Beijing6bgcolor=#98c3f1 131211110bgcolor=pink269Details
SouthernPro-Beijing2bgcolor=#98c3f1 22112bgcolor=pink154Details
Yau Tsim MongPro-Beijing421187bgcolor=Pink 94Details
Sham Shui Po331014bgcolor=lightgreen1565Details
Kowloon CityPro-BeijingPA4315456bgcolor=Pink 165Details
Wong Tai SinPro-Beijing75211012bgcolor=Pink 136Details
Kwun TongPro-Beijing961917bgcolor=Pink 17bgcolor=Pink8Details
Tsuen WanPro-Beijing6113610bgcolor=pink7bgcolor=pink5+2Details
Tuen MunPro-Beijing97412615bgcolor=pink14bgcolor=pink7+1Details
Yuen LongPro-Beijing1bgcolor=#98c3f1 71143bgcolor=pink207+6Details
NorthPro-Beijing7638bgcolor=Pink 8bgcolor=Pink5+4Details
Tai PoPro-Beijing541186bgcolor=pink135+2Details
Sai KungPro-Beijing3bgcolor=#98c3f1 5364bgcolor=pink135+2Details
Sha TinPro-Beijing393111 368bgcolor=pink289+1Details
Kwai TsingPro-democracy102115bgcolor=lightgreen2357+1Details
IslandsPro-Beijingbgcolor=#98c3f1 251bgcolor=pink64+8Details
TOTAL86831916151164145157bgcolor=Pink232129

Seat summary

Aftermath

Tung Chee-hwa appointed 102 members to the District Council after the election to prevent the pro-democracy camp from dominating the District Councils. These included 41 from various political parties, namely the Liberal Party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance. There were no democrats appointed. The pro-democrats thus lost their domination of the Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin and Yau Tsim Mong District Councils where the pro-democrats had 15, 11 and 6 directly elected seats while pro-Beijing camp gained 15, 10 and 6 seats and 18, 14 and 8 seats after the appointments respectively.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Chan, Ming K.. Crisis and Transformation in China's Hong Kong. Alvin Y.. So. M.E. Sharpe. 2002. 139–42.