Hong Kong legislative election, 2016
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The 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council Election will be the election to the 6th Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). The election comes after the rejection of the 2015 Hong Kong electoral reform which suggested the electoral method of 2016 Legislative Council election remains unchanged.
Background
Electoral reform proposals and 2014 Occupy protests
In December 2007, the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) ruled out the possible universal suffrage in the 2012 LegCo Election but on the other hand states that the election of the LegCo may be implemented by the method of electing all members by universal suffrage after the Chief Executive (CE) is elected by universal suffrage which may be implemented in 2017,[1] which means that the 2016 LegCo Election will not be implemented by universal suffrage.
On 31 August 2014, the NPCSC set limits for the 2016 Legislative Council and 2017 Chief Executive elections after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying submitted the Consultation Report to the NPCSC in July 2014. While calling for "universal suffrage" for the 2017 Chief Executive election which two to three candidates would be nominated by a nominating committee with half of the members' support, the decision states that the process of forming the 2016 Legislative Council would be unchanged, but following the new process for the election of the Chief Executive, a new system to elect the Legislative Council via universal suffrage would be developed with the approval of Beijing.[2]
The pan-democrats vowed to veto this the proposal in which they saw as fake democracy. As a result of the decision, Occupy Central, a planned occupy movement to put pressure on Beijing to honour its promise said they would launch a mass-scale civil disobedience.[3] Also in response to the CPC decision, Hong Kong Federation of Students and the student pressure group Scholarism staged a co-ordinated class boycott in Hong Kong and organise public events, including street assemblies,[4][5] which led into a months-long large-scale occupy movement which is referred as the "Umbrella Revolution."
The government proposals eventually failed to gain the required two-thirds support in the Legislative Council as the pan-democrats vetoed it on 18 June 2015. In response to the protests and reform, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying urged the voters to “punish” the opposition democratic candidates by voting them out in the upcoming legislative election.[6]
Thunderbolt plan
Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who was inspired by the electoral victory the Democratic Progressive Party received in the 2016 Taiwanese general election, has mapped out a “thunderbolt plan” for pan-democrats to grab half of the seats in the Legislative Council election in order to have much stronger bargaining power in future political reform. He suggests the non-pro-Beijing camp to field no more than 23 lists if their goal is to win 23 seats in the geographical constituencies, six tickets for nine-seat New Territories West and New Territories East, four tickets for six-seat Hong Kong Island and Kowloon West, and three for five-seat Kowloon East respectively.[7]
For the functional constituencies, Tai suggested that besides retaining the current six trade-based functional constituencies and three District Council (Second) super seats, the camp needs to target three additional seats in Medical, Engineering and Architectural, Surveying and Planning.[7]
Tai has met with reservations from pro-democracy politicians. Democrat legislator Sin Chung-kai said Tai’s idea would be “difficult to implement" as doubted the umbrella soldiers and radical parties would be willing to collaborate. Albert Chan Wai-yip of radical People Power dismissed Tai’s scheme as “nightmare”.[7]
Candidates
Democratic Party
Several parties set up unprecedented intra-party pre-election primaries for the candidacies for the Legislative Council elections. Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau proposed a primary on by all party members at the annual meeting after a forum in each constituency where the public could question potential candidates.[8] On 31 December 2015, a total number of 14 nominations was received, with incumbents Emily Lau, Albert Ho and Sin Chung-kai will not seek for re-election.[9]
Civic Party
Civic Party also received 17 nominations for the intra-party primary on 27 January 2016. Three incumbents, Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki and Dennis Kwok will seek for re-election while party leader Alan Leong and Kenneth Chan decided to step down.[10]
Democraitc Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong
The largest party, pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) will also set up a unprecedented intra-party primary for the District Council (First) functional constituency after incumbent Ip Kwok-him announced his retirement. Chan Hok-fung, vice chairman of the Central and Western District Council backed by Ip faces challenges from Sham Shui Po District Councillor Vincent Cheng Wing-shun, Kwun Tong District Council vice chairman Hung Kam-in, and North District Councillor Lau Kwok-fan who has been nominated by legislators Leung Che-cheung and Chan Han-pan.[11]
Incumbents who will not run for re-election
See also
References
- ↑ The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (2013). Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive in 2017 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2016 Consultation Document (PDF). p. 3.
- ↑ "Full text of NPC decision on universal suffrage for HKSAR chief selection". Xinhua. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- ↑ Buckley, Chris & Forsythe, Michael (31 August 2014). "China Restricts Voting Reforms for Hong Kong". New York Times. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- ↑ "'Snitch line' in operation against school boycotters in H.K.". GlobalPost. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ↑ Yung, Chester; Ngai, Edward (21 August 2014). "Hong Kong Students to Boycott Classes If Democracy Demands Aren't Met". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ↑ Ong, Larry (25 March 2015). "Hong Kong’s Leader Calls on Voters to Oust the Opposition". Epoch Times.
- 1 2 3 Ng, Joyce (4 February 2016). "Thunderbolt plan: Benny Tai devises proposal for Hong Kong pan-democrats to win half of legislative seats in September poll". South China Morning Post.
- ↑ Lam, Jeffie (5 December 2015). "Hong Kong's Democratic Party to vote on pre-election primary proposal". South China Morning Post.
- ↑ Lam, Jeffie (31 December 2015). "Hong Kong Democratic Party leader Emily Lau decides not to seek re-election in 2016". South China Morning Post.
- ↑ "公民黨公布有意參選立法會名單梁家傑陳家洛無報名". Commerial Radio Hong Kong.
- ↑ "【政情】民建聯落實真‧選舉". Now TV. 4 February 2016.
External links
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