2019 Hong Kong Rural Representative election explained

Election Date:
Election Name:2019 Hong Kong Rural Representative election
Country:Hong Kong
Type:legislative
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2015 Hong Kong Rural Representative election
Previous Year:2015
Next Election:2023 Hong Kong Rural Representative election
Next Year:2023
Seats For Election:All 1,540 Rural Representatives
Turnout:60.58%
Colour1:22B14C
Party1:Village Charter
Alliance1:Pro-democracy
Image1:Chu Hoi-dick 2017.jpg
Leader1:Eddie Chu
Seats1:0
Seats Before1:New party
Leaders Seat1:Yuen Kong San Tseun

2019 Hong Kong Rural Representative election was held in January 2019 to elect 1,540 Rural Representatives in the New Territories of Hong Kong. This is the first time pro-democracy camp formed electoral alliance to run in the rural election, despite co-initiator Eddie Chu was disqualified and the alliance failed to gain any seats.

Electoral system

Breakdown of Number of Rural Areas and Rural Representatives By District[1]
DistrictNo. of
Existing
Village
No. of Resident
Representatives
No. of
Indigenous
Villages &<br>Composite
Indigenous
Villages
No. of Indigenous
Inhabitants
Representatives
No. of Market
Towns
No. of Kaifong
Representatives
Total no. of
Rural
Representatives
80 80 66 71 2 56 207
10 10 9 18 - - 28
117 117 97 132 - - 249
91 91 77 89 - - 180
48 48 46 55 - - 103
122 122 125 151 - - 273
37 37 38 69 - - 106
35 35 24 33 - - 68
155 155 121 171 - - 326
Total 695 695 603 789 2 56 1,540

A total of 1,540 seats were open for election. Each Existing Village elects one Resident Representatives, while Indigenous Village & Composite Indigenous Village elects one to five Indigenous Inhabitants Representatives. The Market Towns of Cheung Chau and Peng Chau elect 39 and 17 Kaifong Representatives respectively.

Detailed breakdown as follows:

Pre-election events

The nomination period of the election opened on 9 November and closed on 22 November 2018.

Eddie Chu, member of the Legislative Council, and Paul Zimmerman, Southern District Councillor, initiated the Village Charter movement on 7 November 2018 under the slogan "Let's make our village clean and green",[2] calling for the reform of rural representation system and the democratization of Rural Committees, which elected Rural Representatives will serve in.[3] [4] This marked the first time pro-democracy camp coordinated in the rural election.

Disqualification

Eddie Chu became the first candidate barred from running in the rural election because of their political stance, as he was disqualified from running in the election after electoral officials questioned his stance on Hong Kong independence and self-determination and invalidated his nomination for “implicitly” maintaining support for self-determination. Chu branded the decision "ridiculous" for "disqualifying an incumbent legislator from running for the post of a village chief".[5] [6] The village election process was temporarily put on hold as government considered Chu's candidacy.[7]

Chu later filed an election petition to the High Court over the disqualification, but withdrew in January 2020 after taking into account the outcome of the election petition by Agnes Chow,[8] which ruled Returning Officer can disqualify candidates.[9]

Voting

The election took place on three consecutive Sundays in January 2019.

Only 436 seats were open for contest with a total of 836 candidates, as 105 villages received no valid nomination and hence no elections were held,[10] [11] while nearly a thousand candidates were uncontested, including the Market Town of Peng Chau.[12]

Date District Rural Committee
6 January 2019 Lamma Island (North); Lamma Island (South); Mui Wo; South Lantao
Sha Tau Kok District, Ta Kwu Ling District
Hang Hau
Sha Tin
Tai Po
Kam Tin, Ping Shan, San Tin
13 January 2019 Islands Tai O, Tung Chung
Tsuen Wan, Ma Wan
North Fanling District, Sheung Shui District
Sai Kung Sai Kung
Tai Po Sai Kung North
Tuen Mun
Yuen Long Ha Tseun, Pat Heung, Shap Pat Heung
20 January 2019 Islands Cheung Chau

Result

Turnout of the election is as follows:

Election Registered Turnout
Resident Representative 33,497 21,239 63.67%
Indigenous Inhabitant Representative 51,955 31,282 60.21%
Kaifong Representative 7,104 3,553 50.01%
Total 92,556 56,074 60.58%

Pro-democracy camp

For candidates of the pro-democracy Village Charter, none successfully won a seat. William Ho did not gather enough nominations and was not enlisted as a candidate. In Pan Long Wan, Paul Zimmerman was defeated overwhelmingly by 12–110 after admitting no hope to win the election,[13] similar for Carol Ho of Pak Kong by 23–110. Herve Bouvresses, running for re-election,[14] and David Newbery lost by 10–16 and 10–14 respectively.[15]

Political affiliation !! Constituency !! Rural Committee !! Result
Yuen Kong San Tseun (Resident) Pat Heung
Pan Long Wan (Resident) Hang Hau
Carol Ho Kit-yee Pak Kong (Resident) Sai Kung
William Ho Wai-lim Sheung Shui Heung (Indigenous Inhabitant) Sheung Shui
David Newbery Hoi Ha (Resident) Sai Kung North
Herve Bouvresse Long Keng (Resident) Sai Kung

Stanley Ho Wai-hong from the Labour Party, who advocated ending indigenous rights of housing, was defeated by conservative in Ko Tong of Sai Kung.[16] Sum Shui-ying of Democratic Party was declared elected as the sole candidate of Wa Mei Shan in Fanling, who promised to bring voices of democracy into the Rural Committee.[17]

Half a year after the election defeat amidst the pro-democracy protest movement, Carol Ho received threats accusing her of supporting Hong Kong independence and hampering the peace of the village.[18]

Cheung Chau

With 65 candidates vying for 39 seats, Cheung Chau is one of the closely watched races. Voter shall cast ballot for 39 candidates under block voting system.

Reformist Cheung Chau Synergy, led by pro-business Cheung Chau South District Councillor Kwong Koon-wan, and conservative Cheung Chau Community Alliance, by pro-Beijing Cheung Chau North District Councillor Lee Kwai-chun, fielded 33 and 32 candidates respectively.[19] As the two Cheung Chau constituencies in the District Council would merge into one in 2019 local election, the poll became increasingly competitive.

Community Alliance eventually took up 25 seats, while Synergy only won 14 but made a net gain of 8 seats compared to the last election. Perceived to be risky after losing support, [20] the conservatives retained their majority and the control of Cheung Chau Rural Committee.

Ping Yeung

In September 2018, Chan Kam-wah of Ping Yeung in Ta Kwu Ling declared breaking off parental relationship with his son, North District Councillor Frank Chan Shung-fai.[21] Senior Chan slammed "unfilial" Frank Chan in the statement on newspaper, while Frank Chan said it was an attempt by his father to pressurize his ex-wife to turn over her possessions over a financial dispute with the new wife.[22]

The election for Ping Yeung Indigenous Inhabitants Representatives saw eight candidates running for four seats.[15] The four on Frank Chan's team were defeated, while Chan Kam-wah was re-elected with the highest number of votes amongst all.[23] Despite so, Frank Chan's sister Chan Yuet-ming was elected as Resident Representative by one vote. Chan Kam-wah eventually abandoned his re-election bid as chairman of Ta Kwu Leng Rural Committee, and gave way to his daughter Chan Yuet-ming to become the first Rural Committee chairwoman in Hong Kong's history.[24]

Rural Committee chairman

Chairman of all 27 Rural Committees were elected by April 2019,[25] who would serve as ex-officio members of respective District Councils and as members of the Heung Yee Kuk.

District Rural Committee Chairman Remarks
IslandsCheung ChauYung Chi-mingRe-elected
Lamma Island (North)Chan Lin-wai
Lamma Island (South)Chow Yuk-tong
Mui WoWong Man-hon
Peng ChauKen Wong Hon-kuen
South LantaoHo Chun-fai
Tai OHo Siu-kei
Tung ChungWong Chau-pingFirst chairwoman
NorthFanling DistrictLi Kwok-fungRe-elected
Sha Tau Kok DistrictLee Koon-hung
Sheung Shui DistrictHau Chi-keung
Ta Kwu Ling DistrictChan Yuet-mingFirst chairwoman
Sai KungHang HauLau Kai-hong
Sai KungWong Shui-sangRe-elected
Sha TinSha TinMok Kam-kwaiRe-elected
Tai PoSai Kung NorthLi Yiu-banRe-elected
Tai PoLam Yick-kuen
Kwai Tsing/Tsuen WanTsing YiChan Chi-wong
Ma WanChan Sung-ipRe-elected
Tsuen WanYau Kam-ping
Tuen MunTuen MunKenneth Lau Ip-keungRe-elected
Yuen LongHa TsuenTang Lai-tungRe-elected
Kam TinTang Ho-nin
Pat HeungTang Sui-man
Ping ShanTang Che-keung
San TinJimmy Man Mei-kwaiDied in office[26]
Shap Pat HeungChing Chan-ming

Notes and References

  1. Breakdown of Number of Rural Areas and Rural Representatives By District. Election Affairs Commission.
  2. Web site: 羅家晴 . 2018-11-07 . 朱凱廸、司馬文等六人結盟參選村代表 朱:不會簽確認書 . 2023-03-20 . 香港01 . zh-HK.
  3. Web site: Village Charter . 2023-03-20 . Villagecharter2018 . en.
  4. Web site: CHARTER ALLIANCE 2018 - SUGGESTIONS TO REFORM RURAL REPRESENTATION SYSTEM. Village Charter 2018 via Facebook. 2019-01-01.
  5. Web site: 2018-12-02 . Lawmaker Eddie Chu disqualified from running in village election . 2023-03-20 . South China Morning Post . en.
  6. Web site: Grundy . Tom . 2018-12-02 . Hong Kong bans pro-democracy lawmaker Eddie Chu from running in village election . 2023-03-20 . Hong Kong Free Press HKFP . en-GB.
  7. Web site: Chan . Holmes . 2018-11-30 . Village election process put on hold as candidate Eddie Chu risks ban over gov't grilling . 2023-03-20 . Hong Kong Free Press HKFP . en-GB.
  8. Web site: Eddie Chu withdraws poll petition . 2023-03-20 . The Standard . en.
  9. Web site: 朱棨新 . 2020-01-06 . 【DQ覆核】周庭案官指選舉主任有權DQ 朱凱廸認為勝算低撤呈請 . 2023-03-20 . 香港01 . zh-HK.
  10. Web site: 2019 Rural Ordinary Election List of Existing Villages where Resident Representative Elections Had Failed. Electoral Affairs Commission.
  11. Web site: 2019 Rural Ordinary Election List of Indigenous Villages where Indigenous Inhabitant Representative Elections Had Failed. Electoral Affairs Commission.
  12. Web site: 鄉郊代表選舉一連三個周日舉行 . 2023-03-20 . Now 新聞 . zh-hk.
  13. Web site: 李奕鳴 . 2019-01-06 . 【村代表選舉】民主派司馬文:毫無勝算 參選盼提升市民關注度 . 2023-03-20 . 香港01 . zh-HK.
  14. Web site: 羅家晴 . 2019-01-13 . 【村代表選舉】何偉航落敗:會檢討選舉工程 為未來的路繼續努力 . 2023-03-20 . 香港01 . zh-HK.
  15. Web site: 2019 Rural Ordinary Election. Electoral Affairs Commission.
  16. Web site: 參選村長 工黨常委何偉航落敗 . 2023-03-20 . www.mingpaocanada.com . en.
  17. Web site: 林景輝 . 2018-12-03 . 民主黨員任原居民村代表 沈運華:冀將民主聲音帶入鄉委會 . 2023-03-20 . 香港01 . zh-HK.
  18. Web site: 北港村現針對前居民村代表候選人橫額及招紙. 2019-08-25. Inmedia.
  19. Web site: Wong . Michael . 2015-01-29 . 長洲改革派挑戰選舉失敗 . 2023-03-20 . Harbour Times . en-GB.
  20. Web site: 政情:區選議席合併爭崩頭長洲李桂珍鄺官穩 掀惡鬥 . 2023-03-20 . 東方日報 . zh-hk.
  21. Web site: 打鼓嶺坪洋村陳金華登報 與區議員陳崇輝斷絕父子關係. Oriental Daily . 2019-01-09 . 2020-03-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200323091409/https://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20180929/bkn-20180929141317656-0929_00822_001.html . dead.
  22. Web site: 「不肖長子」陳崇輝反擊:阿爸拋妻棄子 . 2019-01-09 . 2019-06-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190601114133/https://hk.news.appledaily.com/breaking/realtime/article/20180929/58737529?itm_campaign=hkad_internal_link&itm_medium=internal&itm_source=hkad_web&itm_content=internal_link_2 . dead. Apple Daily.
  23. Web site: 斷絕父子關係首同場選村代表 陳金華當選陳崇輝連任失敗 . 2019-01-09 . 2019-01-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190109205238/https://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20190107/bkn-20190107085130565-0107_00822_001.html . dead. Oriental Daily.
  24. Web site: 老竇讓路 陳月明成港首個女鄉頭 . 2019-03-29 . 2019-06-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190602181156/https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/daily/article/20190322/20638880 . dead. Oriental Daily.
  25. Web site: The 35th Term of Heung Yee Kuk Ex Officio Councillors Chairmen of Rural Committees . Home Affairs Department.
  26. Web site: 2022-12-23 . Vacancy in Yuen Long District Council . 2023-03-20 . www.info.gov.hk.