Hong Kong legislative election, 2004

The 2004 Hong Kong legislative election for members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) was held on 12 September 2004. The elections returned 30 members from directly elected geographical constituencies and 30 members from functional constituencies, of which 11 were unopposed.

General outcome

A record number of 3.2 million people registered to vote in the election. The turnout rate was an unprecedented 55.6% with 1,784,406 voters casting ballots, beating the previous record set in 1998 by 200,000 votes.

While pro-democratic opposition candidates gained new seats in the legislature, their gains fell short of their expectations.

In 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 camp 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 (geographical and functional) of the 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.

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.

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] Another report was commissioned by the government to suggest future improvements.^[2]

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 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 re-education 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.

Candidates and results

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

Geographical constituencies (30 seats)

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

Results of Hong Kong legislative election, 2004 edit
Hong Kong Island (香港島)
List №	Party/Allegiance		Candidate(s)	Votes	Votes %		Seat(s) won
1		DAB	Ma Lik Choy So-yuk Christopher Chung Shu-kun Yeung Wai-foon Lee Yuen-kwong Cheung Kwok-kwan	74,659	21.1		2
2		Independent	Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai	65,661	18.5		1
3		Independent	Tsang Kin-shing Chung Chung-fai Tang Chui-chung	5,313	1.5
4		Democratic Party	Yeung Sum Martin Lee Joseph Lai Chi-keong	131,788	37.2		2
5		Independent	Kelvin Wong Kam-fai	2,830	0.8
6		Independent	Audrey Eu Yuet-mee (Article 45 Concern Group) Cyd Ho Sau-lan (The Frontier, Civic Act-up)	73,844	20.9		1
		Civic Act-up
TOTAL (Quota: 59,016 votes, 16.67%)				354,095	100.0		6
Kowloon West (九龍西)
List №	Party/Allegiance		Candidate(s)	Votes	Votes %		Seat(s) won
1		Independent	Lau Yuk-shing Leung Suet-fong Lau Po-kwan	1,824	0.8
2		HKADPL	Frederick Fung Kin-kee	46,649	20.5		1
3		Independent	Lau Chin-shek	43,460	19.1		1
4		DAB	Jasper Tsang Yok-sing Chung Kong-mo Starry Lee Wai-king	61,770	27.1		1
5		Democratic Party	James To Kun-sun Chan Ka-wai Lam Ho-yeung Ma Kee	60,539	26.6		1
6		HKADPL	Liu Sing-lee	13,452	5.9
TOTAL (Quota: 56,923 votes, 25%)				227,694	100.0		4
Kowloon East (九龍東)
List №	Party/Allegiance		Candidate(s)	Votes	Votes %		Seat(s) won
1		Democratic Party	Fred Li Wah-ming Wu Chi-wai Ho Wai-to	56,462	19.2		1
2		DAB	Chan Kam-lam Choi Chun-wa Chan Tak-ming	55,306	18.8		1
		HKFTU
3		Independent	Albert Cheng Jing-han Andrew To Kwan-hang (The Frontier)	73,479	25.0		1
4		Independent	Alan Leong Kah-kit (Article 45 Concern Group)	56,175	19.1		1
5		HKFTU	Chan Yuen-han Lam Man-fai Tang Ka-piu (Independent)	52,564	17.9		1
		DAB
TOTAL (Quota: 58,797 votes, 20.00%)				293,986	100.0		5
New Territories West (新界西)
List №	Party/Allegiance		Candidate(s)	Votes	Votes %		Seat(s) won
1		Independent	Albert Chan Wai-yip	36,278	7.83		1
2		Democratic Party	Lee Wing-tat Sumly Chan Yuen-sum	62,500	13.49		1
3		Democratic Party	Albert Ho Chun-yan Cheung Yin-tung	62,342	13.45		1
4		HKNWSC	Leung Yiu-chung	59,033	12.74		1
5		Independent	Chow Ping-tim	1,725	0.37
6		Independent	Stephen Char Shik-ngor	9,116	1.97
7		DAB	Tam Yiu-chung Cheung Hok-ming Leung Che-cheung Au Yeung Po-chun Tsui Fan Chan Han-pan Andy Lo Kwong-sing Philip Ng King-wah	115,251	24.87		2
8		Independent	Ng Tak-leung	1,920	0.41
9		Liberal Party	Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee Kenneth Ting Woo-shou	50,437	10.88		1
10		New Century Forum	Lui Hau-tuen Siu Shing-choi Chan Choi-hi	4,511	0.97
11		HKCTU	Lee Cheuk-yan Ip Ngok-fung	45,725	9.87		1
12		HKADPL	Yim Tim-sang Kong Fung-yi Tai Yin-chiu Kwun Tung-wing	14,570	3.14
TOTAL (Quota: 57,926 votes, 12.50%)				463,408	100.0		8
New Territories East (新界東)
List №	Party/Allegiance		Candidate(s)	Votes	Votes %		Seat(s) won
1		Independent	Leung Kwok-hung	60,925	14.14		1
2		Hong Kong Progressive Alliance	Tso Wung-Wai	14,174	3.29
3		7.1 United Front	Andrew Cheng Kar-foo (Democratic) Emily Lau Wai-hing (The Frontier) Ronny Tong Ka-wah (Article 45 Concern Group) Wong Sing-chi (Democratic) Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong (HKCTU) Shirley Ho Suk-ping (Democratic) Ricky Or Yiu-lam (The Frontier)	168,833	39.17		3
4		Liberal Party	James Tien Pei-chun	68,560	15.91		1
5		Independent	Andrew Wong Wang-fat	23,081	5.36
6		DAB	Lau Kong-wah Li Kwok-ying Mok Kam-kwai Chan Kwok-kai So Sai-chi Wong Pik-kiu Chan Hak-kan	95,434	22.14		2
TOTAL (Quota: 61,572 votes, 14.29%)				431,007	100.0		7

Election results

(Total votes added up by this reference) For the joint list of pro-democrats in NT East, where there was a threshold of 50000 votes for a seat. Cheng and Lau obtained 50,000 votes each, and Tong got 48,833 vote, getting the last seat.

Votes summary

References

External links

• LegCo Elections 2004