Hong Kong legislative election, 1995

Hong Kong legislative election, 1995

17 September 1995

All 60 seats to the Legislative Council Turnout 35.80% (GC)   First party Second party   Leader Martin Lee Allen Lee Party Democratic Liberal Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing Leader's seat Island East New Territories Northeast Last election 16 seats, 52.35% New party Seats before 15 15 Seats won 19 (12 GCs + 5 FCs + 2 EC) 10 (1 GC + 9 FCs) Seat change 4 5 Popular vote 385,428 15,126 Percentage 42.3% 1.6%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Tsang Yok-sing Frederick Fung Party DAB ADPL Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy Leader's seat Kowloon Central (defeated) Kowloon West Last election New party 1 seat, 4.44% Seats before 1 1 Seats won 6 (2 GCs + 2 FCs + 2 EC) 4 (2 GCs + 1 FC + 1 EC) Seat change 5 3 Popular vote 142,801 87,072 Percentage 15.7% 9.6%

Elected candidates by each geographical constituency ■ – DP ■ – DAB ■ – ADPL ■ – LP ■ – Independent

President before election Sir John Joseph Swaine Nonpartisan Elected President Andrew Wong Independent

The 1995 Hong Kong Legislative Council general election for members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) was held on 17 September 1995. It was the last and the first fully elected legislative election of the colonial Hong Kong government before transferring Hong Kong's sovereignty to China two years later. The elections returned 20 members from directly elected geographical constituencies, 30 members from indirectly elected functional constituencies, and 10 members from elections committee who elected by all District Board members.

Due to Governor Chris Patten's constitutional reforms, which were strongly opposed by the Beijing government, the nine newly created functional constituencies enfranchised around 2.7 million new voters. As the arguments between Britain and China sparked, politics in Hong Kong became much more involved than previously in Hong Kong's history. New emerged parties, the Beijing-loyalist Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the pro-business Liberal Party and pro-democracy Democratic Party all filled up candidates to contest in the election.

The pro-democracy forces won another landslide victory after the 1991 Legislative Council elections, sweeping 17 of the 20 directly elected seats and about half of the seats in the legislature. The democrats controlled the legislature, which allowed Andrew Wong to become the only President of the Legislative Council from the pro-democracy camp. Since Beijing overthrew the promise of "through train" which guaranteed the legislature could travel through 1997 as the reaction to Chris Patten's reform, the pro-democracy legislature lasted for only two years and was replaced by the Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council.

Background

The electoral bases were largely expanded under the 1994 Hong Kong electoral reform carried out by the last colonial governor Chris Patten as the last step of democratisation as following:^[1]

• Using the "single seat, single constituency" method for all three tiers of geographical constituency elections to the District Boards, Municipal Councils (Urban and Regional Council) and Legislative Council;
• Lowering the minimum voting age from 21 to 18;
• Abolishing all appointed seats on the District Boards and Municipal Councils;
• Removing all the restrictions on local deletes to China's National People's Congress to stand for election;
• Broadening the franchise of certain existing functional constituencies by replacing corporate voting with individual voting;
• Introducing nine new functional constituency seats; and
• The introduction of an Election Committee of District Board members, which would return 10 members to the Legislative Council using the single transferable vote^[2].

New nine functional constituencies with much larger eligible electorates was created to broaden the franchise to 2.7 millions new voters:

1. Agriculture, Fisheries, Mining, Energy and Construction
2. Textiles and Garment
3. Maufacturing
4. Import and Export
5. Wholesale and Retail
6. Hotels and Catering
7. Transport and Communication
8. Financing, Insurance, Real Estate and Business Services
9. Community, Social and Personal Services

Overview

The United Democrats of Hong Kong and the Meeting Point, the two major pro-democracy forces had founded the Democratic Party in 1994, while the pro-business legislators had formed the Liberal Party in 1993 and the Communist-controlled politicians established the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), today's largest political party.

Solicitor Ambrose Lau, in the direction of the New China News Agency founded the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance which consisted of mostly pro-business factor of the CCP's united front. Other grassroots leaders were also encouraged by the CCP to stand in the election against the pro-democracy camp.

Succeeding the last election in 1991, Democratic Party, together with other smaller parties, groups and independents in the pro-democracy camp, had another landslide victory again, getting 17 of the 20 geographical constituency seats. Allen Lee, the Chairman of the Liberal Party and the Appointed Member in the LegCo got elected in the geographical constituency direct election. The Chairman of the DAB, Jasper Tsang however got defeated by Bruce Liu of pro-democracy ADPL in Kowloon Central.

The Government of the People's Republic of China overthrew the promise of the "through train" (letting the members elected in the 1995 election travel safely through 1997 and beyond) and set up the Provisional Legislative Council in 1996, after the proposal package of electoral changes for the 1995 Legislative Council elections that was deemed unconstitutional by the PRC was passed in the Legislative Council.

General Outcome

Vote summary

Ring charts of the election results showing popular vote against seats won, coloured in party colours. Seats won in the election (outer ring) against number of votes (inner ring).

Seat summary

Result breakdown

Geographical Constituencies

Functional Constituencies

Election Committee Constituency

References

Elections and referendums in Hong Kong Chief Executive elections 1996 2002 2005 2007 2012 2017 Election Committee elections 1998 2000 2002 2005 2006 2011 2016 Legislative elections 1985 1988 1991 1995 1996 1998 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 By-elections Sanitary Board and municipal elections 1888 1891 1894 1899 1901 1903 1906 1909 1912 1914 1915 1916 1917 1919 1920 1922 1923 1924 1926 1927 1929 1930 1932 (May) 1932 (Nov) 1933 1935 1936 1937 1939 1940 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1986 1989 1991 1995 District Council elections 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 NPC elections 1997 2002 2008 2012 Referendums 1896