Hong Kong local elections, 2003

Hong Kong local elections, 2003
Hong Kong
23 November 2003

All Elected Constituencies
400 (of the 529) seats in all 18 Districts Councils
Turnout 44.10%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Yeung Sum Tsang Yok-sing Frederick Fung
Party Democratic DAB ADPL
Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy
Leader's seat N/A N/A Lai Kok
Last election 87 seats, 24.85% 81 seats, 23.53% 19 seats, 4.70%
Seats won 95 62 25
Seat change Increase20 Decrease18 Increase5
Popular vote 223,675 241,202 53,264
Percentage 21.27% 22.94% 5.07%
Swing Decrease3.57% Decrease0.59% Increase0.36%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  CF PA
Leader Lau Kong-wah James Tien Ambrose Lau
Party Civil Force Liberal Progressive Alliance
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing
Leader's seat Kam To (defeated) N/A N/A
Last election 11 seats, 2.42% 15 seats, 3.42% 16 seats, 2.65%
Seats won 17 14 13
Seat change Increase6 Decrease3 Decrease2
Popular vote 25,720 29,108 29,091
Percentage 2.45% 2.77% 2.77%
Swing Increase0.02% Decrease0.65% Decrease0.12%

Map of the winning party by constituency

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

 Summary of the 23 November 2003 District Councils of Hong Kong election results
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 - 413196 -
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 DPCFADPL 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]

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. 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.
  2. Frank Ching, "Tsang grooms his kind of political talent", Pg A12, South China Morning Post, 24 June 2008
  3. 3.0 3.1 Michael Ng, Tung picks 'dilute' bodies, The Standard, 29 December 2003