Pro-democracy camp, pan-democracy camp or pan-democrats (Chinese: 泛民主派, 民主派 or 泛民) refer to the politicians and social activists in Hong Kong who support increased democracy and may work together in areas of common interest or by not fielding candidates against one another in elections.
Democratic activists are usually critical of the post-1997 Hong Kong Special Administration Region government and the People's Republic of China's authoritarian government, which they say does not properly represent the will of the people.[1] People who vote for pan-democracy candidates are generally hoping to achieve some implementation of checks and balances in government, since parts of the Hong Kong community treat democracy as an important means to guarantee freedom, their lifestyle and their living standard.[1] Its supportors also advocate a faster pace of democratisation and implementation of universal and equal suffrage. The Pan-Democracy camp is aligned with and similar to, but distinct from, the Chinese democracy movement.
Members of the camp represent a very broad social and political demographic, from the working class to the middle class and professionals. Opposite to the pan-democracy camp is the pro-Beijing camp, whose members are supportive of the authoritarian rule exercised throughout much of China's mainland.
Due to its democracy mission in the political scene, the camp is supported by influential radio hosts, news moguls and a large number of Hong Kong citizens, which can be reflected in Hong Kong Legislative Council and District Council elections. However, they cannot hold a majority of seats due to electoral regulations.
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Relatively conservative, libertarian, centrist faction:
Relatively radical faction:
Members of the camp include social workers and social activists who concern about the question of Hong Kong sovereignty took part in Hong Kong's district board, Urban Council and Regional Council elections in the early 1980s, as well as professionals, mainly lawyers, who entered the Legislative Council when functional constituencies were introduced in the mid-1980s. Several political groups existed during the era.
The foundation of its public support has its roots in opposition to the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre which aroused widespread horror, sympathy and support of the protesters by Hong Kong citizens.[2] The crackdown on Chinese media and subsequent suppression of student dissent was a mobilizing factor; and the first direct election to the Legislative Council in 1991 brought the amalgamation of some of these groups into the United Democrats of Hong Kong, which including, Szeto Wah and Martin Lee the two major icons in the protests of 1989.
The "Pro-Democracy camp" term has been in common use since the 1991 election of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, when the Democratic Party, newly merged from the United Democrats of Hong Kong and Meeting Point, together with other smaller political parties, groups and independents, won a historical landslide victory in the election, took 17 out of the 18 geographical constituency seats and controlled nearly half of the seat of the council. Some of the members of the camp, especially the Democratic Party, were often considered strategic allies of the government of Chris Patten, then governor.
All of its members, except the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, declined to join the extralegal Provisional Legislative Council installed by the government of the People's Republic of China, and were ousted from the territory's legislature for a year until the 1998 election. Starting from the 1998 election, since the plurality electoral system was changed to proportional representation, compounded with the restoration of corporate votes in the functional constituencies, and replacement of broad-based functional constituencies with traditional ones, the number of seats of the camp dipped, albeit having similar share of vote. Within the camp, share of smaller parties and independents increased relatively, with the share of the Democratic Party falling from around two-thirds in 1995 to less than a half by 2004.
In recent years, use of "pan-democrat" (泛民主派) is gaining in popularity, as it is typically meant to be non-denominational and all-inclusive. In addition, to some people, it is less likely than 民主派 to cause confusion with the Democratic Party (民主黨).
Members of the camp tend to use the latter term to identify themselves the "Pan-Democracy Camp" term is often used in negative tones by its detractors. "Pan-Democrat" as a title has grown in usage especially during the passage of the national security and anti-subversion legislation, so-called Article 23. The pan-democracy camp was the strong opposition to the Article 23 and they successfully called for 5 millions people to protest on 1 June 2003 against the legislation. The subsequent 2003 district councils and 2004 LegCo elections, and the debate over electoral reforms for the 2007 Chief Executive and 2008 LegCo elections.
Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive, promised to resolve the question of universal suffrage in his office during the election. He carried out the 2012 constitutional package in 2009 which was criticised by the pro-democracy as lack of genuine progress. The League of Social Democrats called for a de facto referendum in five geographical constituencies. Civic Party, the second largest pro-democratic party joined the referendum. However, the largest party, Democratic Party was reluctant to participate. The Democratic Party started to have contact with the mainland officials. The Democratic Party brought out a revised proposal of the package to Beijing and the revised proposal was passed in the Legislative Council in the support of the government and Pro-Beijing camp.
However, it triggered a major split within the camp and also in the Democratic Party. The Young Turks including the LegCo member Andrew Cheng quit the party and formed the Neo Democrats. The Democratic Party was accused by the LSD and the radicals of betraying democracy and its supporters.
The movement is criticized by numerous groups including media which is controlled by the PRC mainland Chinese government authorities and post-1997 Government of Hong Kong as an "opposition camp" (反對派), since their concerns in regards to freedom of speech, freedom of press, and self-determination contradict with the political stance of the PRC government. In some cases, pan-democracy activists have even been accused of high treason.[3]
Civil organisations, individual social activists, political parties, political groups and lawmakers who share a similar belief in democracy are all considered members of this camp. (number of Legislative Councillors shown in brackets)
The following entities are routinely referred to as members of the Pan-Democracy camp:
The following political groups are represented in at least one of the district councils:
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