Hong Kong legislative election, 2004

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Elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) were held on September 12, 2004.

The elections returned 30 members from directly elected geographical constituencies and 30 members from functional constituencies.

Contents

[edit] General outcome

Over 3.2 million voters (a historical record) registered for the election. The turnout rate was 55.6%, with 1 784 406 voters casting ballots for the election. This is a historical record in Hong Kong, both in terms of turnout percentage and absolute number of voters, beating the 1998 record by 200,000 votes.

While the pro-democratic opposition candidates have gained new seats in the legislature compared with the previous elections, this has fallen short of their expectations. For the geographical constituencies, candidates from the pro-democratic camp secured 60 percent of the seats in the geographical sectors of the election, taking 18 seats (up from 17) in this category, and 62 percent of the popular vote. On the other hand, the pro-Beijing / pro-business candidates made greater gains, winning 12 directly elected seats (up from 7). Ironically, in the functional constituencies which the pro-democratic camp sought to abolish, the camp made more gains (from 5 to 7 seats). Overall, the democrats took 25 seats and the pro-government, 35 seats. Bills initiated by the government can still be passed on pro-government support alone, but bills originated by members cannot be passed without democratic support, since these bills require absolute majorities in each sector (geograpgical and functional) of legislature. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote and thereby also require support from the democratic camp.

Despite the increase in the number of seats returned by geographical constituencies and the record turnout, the Democratic Party (民主黨) lost the status of being the largest political party in the Legislative Council to the pro-government Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (who secured 12 seats) and pro-business Liberal Party (who secured 10 seats) parties, thereby becoming only the third-largest party. Some attributed the poor performance of the pro-democratic camp to tactical mis-calculation in vote allocation. This was not helped by some of the democratic parties' personal scandals.

Overall, the pro-Beijing and pro-business parties succeeded in retaining the majority in the legislature. However, pro-democracy candidates have maintained the threshold to block changes (if necessary) to the Basic Law of Hong Kong (since a two-thirds vote is required for amendment). The current Legislative Council also saw the entry of more radical members of the 'democratic' camp.

[edit] Irregularities

There were a few reports of irregularities. Some polling stations ran out of ballot boxes, causing long delays in voting. To fit more ballots into the ballot boxes, some election workers forcefully stuffed ballots into the box using objects such as barbecue forks and metal rulers. Some stations also used random cardboard boxes without official seals. Some ballot boxes were opened before the close of polling.

The polling station operating manual had mistakes in it, so some candidate representatives were kicked out after the closing of the poll and were prevented from witnessing the counting, as required by law.

Some candidates have tried to challenge the election results, but have remained unsuccessful thus far.

A report on the election process was published shortly after the election.[1]PDF (0.99 MiB) Another report was commissioned by the government to suggest future improvements.[2]


[discuss] – [edit]
Overall Summary of the 12 September 2004 Legislative Council of Hong Kong election results
Parties Votes % Geographical
constituencies		 Functional
constituencies		 Total seats
Pro-Democracy Democratic Party 423,631 23.74 7 2 9
Article 45 Concern Group 165,008 9.25 3 1 4
Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood 74,671 4.18 1 1
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions 89,185 5.00 1 1
Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre 59,033 3.31 1 1
The Frontier 73,844 4.14 1 1
Pro democracy individuals and others 115,181 6.45 4 4 8
Pro-Government Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong 402,420 22.55 8 4 12
Liberal Party 118,997 6.67 2 8 10
The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions 52,564 2.95 1 1
Pro-government individual and others 84,346 4.76 1 11 12
Non-partisan Individuals and others 125,526 7.03
Total (turnout 55.6) 1,784,406 100.0 30 30 60
Source turnout: Xinhua. 11 candidates have been elected unopposed in 11 functional constituencies to the Legislative Council.

(Total votes added up by this reference) For the joint list of pro-democrats in NT East, as one seat get 50000 votes, compare the remaining votes, Cheng and Lau got 50000 votes each, and Tong got 48833 vote, getting the last seat.

[edit] Dynamics

The election was largely seen as a contest between the pro-democracy coalition and the pro-business and pro-Beijing coalitions. There were 162 candidates for 60 seats in the LegCo. Before the election, the pro-democratic camp was widely expected to gain the most votes and increase its representation in the LegCo (from 22 seats). Some members of the pro-democratic camp aimed at securing an absolute majority of the seats in the legislature so that they would have the power to veto all government proposals.

The democratic camp called for direct elections for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in 2007 and for LegCo in 2008, as well as rapid political reform. In contrast, the pro-Beijing and pro-business candidates placed more emphasis on economic growth and social stability. Most of the political parties are now setting 2012 as the ideal time for electoral reform.

While the democratic camp hoped to play up the issue of universal suffrage as a prominent issue in the election, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ruled out universal suffrage for the Chief Executive's election in 2007 and for LegCo elections in 2008 in April 2004 before the election. Despite this, the pro-democratic camp insisted on promoting their agenda, which seemed to backfire when the campaign lost its original momentum. This was not helped by various sex and financial scandals of a few pro-democracy candidates. There were some allegations by the pro-democracy camp of Mainland Chinese influence behind this.

Some of the more interesting developments include:

  • Some reports in phone-in radio programmes that some officials in the Mainland requested businessmen to take photographs of their completed ballots with their mobile phones to prove that they have voted for pro-Beijing candidates. In response, the government removed curtains from polling booths to deter such activities.
  • The entry into the election race of popular radio show host Albert Cheng, who had accused Beijing of pressuring him to leave his radio program.
  • The arrest and sentence (by reeducation through labor) of the Democratic Party candidate Alex Ho in Guangdong province of China for (allegedly) being caught and pictured in a hotel bedroom having relations with a prostitute. Although there were some initial predictions that Ho's arrest would help the Democratic Party by highlighting deficiencies in the PRC's judicial system, it is generally agreed that his arrest greatly hurt the party among women voter support in Hong Kong.
  • The involvement of Democratic Party James To and The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions Chan Yuen-han in scandals relating to the use of public funds for the benefit of their respective political groups.
  • Human Rights Watch issued a report a few days before the election, accusing the PRC government of creating a "climate of fear" to influence the election. In response, the Hong Kong government claimed that the report was distorted.
  • The assault of a candidate of the Democratic Party in the New Territories East district, Mr. Wong Shing-chi. The suspect was arrested and reportedly found to be mentally ill.
  • The election of radical activist "Long Hair", who ran as an independent but who is expected to side with pro-democracy representatives despite his revolutionary leanings.

[edit] Candidates and Results

[edit] General Results

Democratic camp 25 seats, Pro-Beijing camp 35 seats Three Largest Parties:

  • DAB: 12 seats
  • Liberal Party: 10 seats
  • Democratic Party: 9 seats

[edit] Geographical Constituencies (30 Seats)

Voting System: party-list proportional representation with the largest remainder method and Hare Quota.

[edit] Hong Kong Island (香港島) (6 Seats)

  • List 1:Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (民主建港聯盟, 民建聯) (Pro-government)
    • Ma Lik (馬力)
    • Choi So Yuk (蔡素玉)
    • Chung Shu Kun, Christopher (鍾樹根)
    • Yeung Wai Foon (楊位款)
    • Lee Yuen Kwong (李元剛)
    • Cheung Kwok Kwan (張國鈞)
  • List 2:Individual (Pro-government)
  • List 3:Individual (Pro-democracy for the "grassroots")
    • Tsang Kin Shing (曾健成, 阿牛)
    • Chung Chung Fai (鍾松輝, 鍾輝)
    • Tang Chui Chung (鄧徐中)
Party list 1 2 3 4 5 6 Total
Votes 74,659 65,661 5,313 131,788 2,830 73,844 379,913
Seats             6
Hare Quota             63 318
Quotas Received 1.18 1.04 0.08 2.08 0.04 1.17  
Automatic seats 1 1 0 2 0 1 5
Remainder 0.18 0.04 0.08 0.08 0.04 0.17  
Surplus seats 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Total Seats 2 1 0 2 0 0 6

[edit] Kowloon West (九龍西) (4 Seats)

  • Individual (Pro-democracy)
    • Lau Yuk Shing, Liu Tai (柳玉成, 劉泰)
    • Leung Suet Fong (梁雪芳)
    • Lau Po Kwan (劉寶坤)

[edit] Kowloon East (九龍東) (5 Seats)

[edit] New Territories West (新界西) (8 Seats)

  • Individual (Pro-government)
    • Ng Tak Leung (伍得良) (a former member of Liberal Party)
  • Individual(Pro-democracy)
    • Char Shik Ngor, Stephen (查錫我)
  • New Century Forum (新世紀論壇)(Pro-government)
    • Lui Hau Tuen (呂孝端)
    • Siu Shing Choi (蕭成財)
    • Chan Choi Hi (陳財喜)
  • Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre (街坊工友服務處) (Pro-democracy)
  • Individual (Pro-government)
    • Chow Ping Tim (鄒秉恬)

[edit] New Territories East (新界東) (7 Seats)

  • Individual (Pro-democracy radical)

[edit] Election results

[edit] Summary of outcome

[edit] Geographical constituencies

Pro Democracy (18 seats):

Pro Government (12 seats):

[edit] Functional constituencies

Pro-democracy (7 seats)

  • Democratic Party: 2 seats
  • Other: 5 seats

Pro-government (23 seats)

  • Liberal Party: 8 seats
  • DAB: 4 seats
  • Other: 11 seats

Democratic camp 25 seats, Pro-Beijing camp 35 seats Three Largest Parties:

  • DAB: 12 seats
  • Liberal Party: 10 seats
  • Democratic Party: 9 seats

[edit] Candidates elected in geographical constituencies

[edit] Hong Kong Island (香港島) (6 Seats)

  • Individual (Pro-government)

[edit] Kowloon West (九龍西) (4 Seats)

[edit] Kowloon East (九龍東) (5 Seats)

  • Democratic Alliance(Pro-democracy)

[edit] New Territories West (新界西) (8 Seats)

  • Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre (街坊工友服務處) (Pro-democracy)

[edit] New Territories East (新界東) (7 Seats)

  • Individual (Pro-Democracy) (Pro-democracy radical)

[edit] Functional Constituencies (30 Seats)

The pro-government camp took 23 seats, leaving seven for the democrats. See this site for a list of the winners and the number of votes received in each sector.

[edit] External links


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