Hong Kong local elections, 2003

Hong Kong local elections, 2003

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 Last election 87 seats, 24.85% 81 seats, 23.53% 19 seats, 4.70% Seats won 95 62 25 Seat change 20 30 5 Popular vote 223,675 241,202 53,264 Percentage 21.27% 22.94% 5.07% Swing 3.57pp 0.59pp 0.36pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   PA Leader Lau Kong-wah James Tien Ambrose Lau Party Civil Force Liberal Progressive Alliance Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Last election 11 seats, 2.42% 15 seats, 3.42% 16 seats, 2.65% Seats won 17 14 13 Seat change 6 3 2 Popular vote 25,720 29,108 29,091 Percentage 2.45% 2.77% 2.77% Swing 0.02pp 0.65pp 0.12pp

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 pro-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 pro-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, pro-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 pro-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]

Results

General outcome

Results by district

Vote summary

Votes, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (46.37%)

  Pro-democrats (44.55%)

  Other (9.08%)

Seats, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (49.25%)

  Pro-democrats (48.25%)

  Other (2.5%)

Seat summary

Aftermath

In December 2003 after the elections, Tung appointed 21 political party appointees to the District Councils to dilute the influence of the pro-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

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