Hong Kong local elections, 2003
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The 2003 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 23 November 2003. Elections were held to all 18 districts of Hong Kong, for 400 members from directly elected constituencies out of total 534 council members, the second district councils election after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. The pan-democrats received a great victory due to the controversy over the legislation of the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 and the large-scale July 1 Protests.
Overview
Before the elections were held, media had speculated the effect of the controversy over the legislation of the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 to the pro-Beijing camp. With the surge of popularity after the 2003 July 1 protests, the pan-democrats challenged the heavyweights of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the flagship pro-government party in many constituencies, including the party vice-chairman Ip Kwok-him's Kwun Lung, Choy So-yuk's Kam Ping, Yeung Yiu-chung's Mei Foo and Lau Kong-wah's Kam To.[1]
Lau Kong-wah stood in Kam To, challenging Democratic Party's Shirley Ho Suk-ping. As Lau was the Legislative Councillor for New Territories, pan-democrats saw Kam To as a crucial target. Icons like Audrey Eu, Alan Leong and Cheung Man-kwong took turns campaigning for Shirley Ho. Standing in the traditional Hokkien community Kam Ping, Choy so-yuk faced the challenged from Leung Kwok-hung of the April Fifth Action, while The Frontier's Cyd Ho stood in Kwun Lung against Ip Kwok-him. Ho was supported by Article 45 Concern Group's Ronny Tong and Ip was supported by the DAB chairman Tsang Yok-sing.[1]
A historical record of 44 percent, in total of 10.6 millions voters cast their vote in the election. In result, Yeung Yiu-chung, Lau Kong-wah and Ip Kwok-him were all defeated by the pan-democrats while Choy So-yuk retained her seat with narrow margin. Only 62 of the 206 DAB candidates were elected. Tsang Yok-sing resigned his chairman post after the defeat and was later on succeeded by Ma Lik.[1]
General outcome
| Political Affiliation | Popular vote | % | % +/− | Standing | Elected | +/− | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong | 241,202 | 22.94 | -0.59 | 200 | 62 | -18 | ||
| Liberal Party | 29,108 | 2.77 | -0.65 | 27 | 14 | -3 | ||
| Hong Kong Progressive Alliance | 29,091 | 2.77 | +0.12 | 23 | 13 | -2 | ||
| Civil Force | 25,720 | 2.45 | +0.02 | 22 | 17 | +6 | ||
| Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions | 2,766 | 0.26 | +0.13 | 3 | 0 | -1 | ||
| New Youth Forum | 1,314 | 0.12 | - | 2 | 0 | - | ||
| New Century Forum | 833 | 0.08 | - | 1 | 0 | - | ||
| Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | ||
| Independent and others | 156,374 | 14.87 | - | 133 | 88 | - | ||
| Total for pro-Beijing camp | 486,408 | 46.26 | - | 413 | 196 | - | ||
| Democratic Party | 223,675 | 21.27 | -3.57 | 120 | 95 | +20 | ||
| Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood | 53,264 | 5.07 | +0.36 | 37 | 25 | +5 | ||
| Frontier | 25,349 | 2.41 | +1.25 | 14 | 7 | +3 | ||
| Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre | 14,146 | 1.35 | +0.94 | 5 | 4 | +2 | ||
| Yuen Long Tin Shui Wai Democratic Alliance | 6,928 | 0.66 | - | 5 | 3 | - | ||
| Central and Western Democratic Power | 5,748 | 0.55 | - | 4 | 2 | - | ||
| Civic Act-up | 5,170 | 0.49 | - | 5 | 3 | - | ||
| Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions | 4,032 | 0.38 | - | 3 | 2 | - | ||
| 7.1 People Pile | 2,888 | 0.27 | - | 3 | 0 | - | ||
| Yuen Long Democratic Alliance | 1,489 | 0.14 | - | 1 | 1 | - | ||
| Wan Chai Community Union | 1,189 | 0.11 | - | 1 | 1 | - | ||
| April Fifth Action | 1,149 | 0.11 | - | 1 | 0 | - | ||
| Citizens Party | 361 | 0.03 | -0.22 | 1 | 0 | -1 | ||
| Independent democrats | 124,252 | 11.82 | - | 83 | 51 | - | ||
| Total for pro-democracy camp | 469,640 | 44.67 | - | 283 | 194 | - | ||
| Independent and others | 95,376 | 9.07 | - | 141 | 10 | - | ||
| Total (turnout 44.10%) | 1,051,424 | 100.0 | - | 837 | 400 | +5 | ||
Results by district
| Council | Previous control | Previous party | Camp control | Largest party | DAB | DP | CF | ADPL | Lib | PA | TF/CAU | Others | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central and Western | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | Pro-democracy | Democratic | 1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |||||
| Wan Chai | Pro-Beijing | DAB | Pro-democracy | Civic Act-up | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | ||||||
| Eastern | Pro-Beijing | DAB | Pro-Beijing | DAB | 12 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 17 | |||||
| Southern | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | 1 | 2 | 2 | 12 | ||||||
| Yau Tsim Mong | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | Pro-democracy | Democratic | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | ||||||
| Sham Shui Po | Pro-democracy | ADPL | Pro-democracy | ADPL | 1 | 2 | 13 | 5 | ||||||
| Kowloon City | Pro-Beijing | Progressive Alliance | No Overall Control | Democratic | 2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | ||||
| Wong Tai Sin | Pro-Beijing | DAB | Pro-Beijing | DAB | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 | ||||
| Kwun Tong | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | Pro-Democracy | Democratic | 4 | 9 | 1 | 20 | ||||||
| Tsuen Wan | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |||||
| Tuen Mun | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | Pro-Beijing | DAB | 9 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 6 | |||||
| Yuen Long | Pro-Beijing | DAB | Pro-Beijing | DAB | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 21 | |||||
| North | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | 5 | 8 | 3 | |||||||
| Tai Po | Pro-Beijing | Democratic | No Overall Control | Democratic | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |||||
| Sai Kung | Pro-Beijing | DAB | Pro-Beijing | DAB | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||||
| Sha Tin | Pro-Beijing | Civil Force | Pro-Beijing | Civil Force | 2 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |||
| Kwai Tsing | Pro-democracy | Democratic | Pro-democracy | Democratic | 1 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 14 | |||||
| Islands | Pro-Beijing | DAB | Pro-Beijing | DAB | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
Aftermath
In Decebmer 2003 after the elections, Tung appointed 21 political party appointees to the District Councils to dilute the influence of the pan-democrats as follows:[2]
- 8 members of the Liberal Party
- 6 members of the DAB
- 6 members from the Progressive Alliance
- 1 from the New Century Forum
Professor of politics and sociology at Lingnan University, Dr. Li Pang-kwong said "As in the past, most of the appointees were pro-government or persons without a clear political stance... ensur[ing] that no district council is in the hands of the democrats."[3]
A spokesman for the democrats said the appointees "will have an unfair advantage in that they are getting financial support from the government which will help them run for office in future elections."[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "【蘋話當年】2003年民建聯區選大敗 曾鈺成辭任主席". Apple Daily. 24 November 2014.
- ↑ Frank Ching, "Tsang grooms his kind of political talent", Pg A12, South China Morning Post, 24 June 2008
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Michael Ng, Tung picks 'dilute' bodies, The Standard, 29 December 2003
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