1999 Hong Kong local elections

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.

1999 Hong Kong local elections

28 November 1999

All Elected Constituencies
390 (of the 519) seats in all 18 Districts Councils
Registered2,832,524 Increase15.60%
Turnout816,503 (35.82%) Increase2.71pp
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Martin Lee Tsang Yok-sing Frederick Fung
Party Democratic DAB ADPL
Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy
Last election 75 seats, 23.01% 37 seats, 11.82% 29 seats, 6.95%
Seats won 86 83 19
Seat change Increase13 Increase27 Increase1
Popular vote 201,461 190,792 38,119
Percentage 24.85% 23.53% 4.70%
Swing Increase1.69pp Increase11.82pp Decrease2.25pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Ambrose Lau James Tien Lau Kong-wah
Party HKPA Liberal Civil Force
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing
Last election 12 seats, 4.19% 18 seats, 7.39% 10 seats, 1.77%
Seats won 16 15 11
Seat change Decrease1 Decrease2 Increase2
Popular vote 23,168 27,718 19,633
Percentage 2.86% 3.42% 2.42%
Swing Decrease1.33pp Decrease3.98pp Increase0.65pp

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Leader Yum Sin-ling Emily Lau Leung Yiu-chung
Party 123DA Frontier NWSC
Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-democracy Pro-democracy
Last election 5 seats, 2.01% New party 1 seat, 0.13%
Seats won 6 4 2
Seat change Steady Increase1 Steady
Popular vote 11,396 9,388 3,295
Percentage 1.41% 1.16% 0.41%
Swing Decrease0.60pp N/A Increase0.28pp

Map of the winning party by constituency

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

Summary of the 28 November 1999 District Councils of Hong Kong election results
Political Affiliation Popular vote % Standing Elected ±
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong 190,79223.53Increase11.8217683Increase27
Hong Kong Progressive Alliance 23,1682.86Decrease1.332516Decrease1
Liberal Party 27,7183.42Decrease3.983415Decrease3
Civil Force 19,6332.42Increase0.651411Increase2
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions 1,0740.13-11Increase1
New Territories Heung Yee Kuk 9420.12-11Steady0
Hong Kong Chinese Reform Association ---11Steady0
Independent and others 177,77421.92-180104Decrease4
Total for pro-Beijing camp443,44154.69-436232Increase22
Democratic Party 201,46124.85Increase1.6917386Increase13
Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood 38,1194.70Decrease2.253219Increase1
123 Democratic Alliance 11,3961.41Decrease0.60106Steady0
Frontier 9,3881.16-94Increase1
Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre 3,2950.41-32Steady0
Citizens Party 2,0720.26-11Steady0
Hong Kong Democratic Foundation 1,3920.17Decrease0.4211Steady0
Independent democrats 58,7067.24-5438Increase7
Total for pro-democracy camp325,82940.18-283157Increase22
Independent and others 41,5935.13-791Steady0
Total (turnout 35.82%) 810,863 100.0 - 798 390 Increase44

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

Council Post-election control Largest party DPDABADPLPALibCF123DATFOthersPro-demPro-BeijingAppointed
& ex officio
CompositionDetails
Central & Western Pro-Beijing Democratic 5 3 1 1 5 8 7 4




Details
Wan Chai Pro-Beijing DAB 2 3 1 5 2 9 3




Details
Eastern Pro-Beijing DAB 6 13 1 2 1 11 10 26 9



Details
Southern Pro-Beijing Democratic 2 2 2 11 2 15 4




Details
Yau Tsim Mong Pro-Beijing Democratic 4 2 1 1 8 7 9 4




Details
Sham Shui Po Pro-democracy ADPL 3 3 10 1 4 15 6 5




Details
Kowloon City Pro-Beijing PA 4 3 1 5 4 5 6 16 5




Details
Wong Tai Sin Pro-Beijing Democratic 7 5 2 1 10 12 13 6




Details
Kwun Tong Pro-Beijing Democratic 9 6 19 17 17 8




Details
Tsuen Wan Pro-Beijing Democratic 6 1 1 3 6 10 7 5+2




Details
Tuen Mun Pro-Beijing Democratic 9 7 4 1 2 6 15 14 7+1




Details
Yuen Long Pro-Beijing DAB 1 7 1 14 3 20 7+6




Details
North Pro-Beijing Democratic 7 6 3 8 8 5+4




Details
Tai Po Pro-Beijing Democratic 5 4 1 1 8 6 13 5+2




Details
Sai Kung Pro-Beijing DAB 3 5 3 6 4 13 5+2




Details
Sha Tin Pro-Beijing Civil Force 3 9 3 1 11 3 6 8 28 9+1




Details
Kwai Tsing Pro-democracy Democratic 10 2 1 15 23 5 7+1




Details
Islands Pro-Beijing DAB 2 5 1 6 4+8




Details
TOTAL 86 83 19 16 15 11 6 4 145 157 232 129



Vote summary

Votes, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (54.69%)
  Pro-democrats (40.18%)
  Other (5.13%)

Seats, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (59.49%)
  Pro-democrats (40.26%)
  Other (0.25%)
Popular vote
Democratic
24.85%
DAB
23.53%
ADPL
4.70%
Liberal
3.42%
PA
2.65%
Civil Force
2.42%
123DA
1.54%
Frontier
1.16%
Others
35.86%

Seat summary

Seats
Democratic
22.05%
DAB
21.28%
ADPL
4.87%
PA
4.10%
Liberal
3.85%
Civil Force
2.82%
123DA
1.41%
Frontier
1.03%
Others
38.59%

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]

References

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