Sha Tin District Council

Sha Tin District Council 沙田區議會
Type
Type	Hong Kong District Council of the Sha Tin District
Leadership
Chair	Ho Hau-cheung, NPP/CF
Vice-Chair	Thomas Pang Cheung-wai, DAB
Structure
Seats	39 councillors consisting of 38 elected and 1 ex officio member
NPP/CF	9 / 39
DAB	7 / 39
Democratic	7 / 39
Neo Dem	1 / 39
Civic	1 / 39
Labour	1 / 39
BPA	1 / 39
STCN	1 / 39
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	22 November 2015
Meeting place
4/F Sha Tin Government Offices, 1 Sheung Wo Che Road, Sha Tin, New Territories
Website
www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/st/

Sha Tin District Council (Chinese: 沙田區議會) is the district council for the Sha Tin District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 district council. Sha Tin District currently consists of 39 members, of which the district is divided into 38 constituencies, electing a total of 38 with 1 ex-officio member who is the Sha Tin rural committee chairman. The latest election was held on 22 November 2015.

History

The Sha Tin District Council was established in 1982 under the name of the Sha Tin District Board as the result of the colonial Governor Murray MacLehose's District Administration Scheme reform. The District Board was partly elected with the ex-officio Regional Council members and Sha Tin Rural Committee chairman, as well as members appointed by the Governor until 1994 when last Governor Chris Patten refrained from appointing any member.

The Sha Tin District Board became Sha Tin Provisional District Board after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was established in 1997 with the appointment system being reintroduced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. The current Sha Tin District Council was established on 1 January 2000 after the first District Council election in 1999. The appointed seats were abolished in 2015 after the modified constitutional reform proposal was passed by the Legislative Council in 2010.

As a new town in the 1980s, Sha Tin was a strategic target for emerging pro-democracy activists, when the three major pro-democracy political groups Hong Kong Affairs Society (HKAS), Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) and Meeting Point formed a strategic alliance in the 1988 District Board election, which saw prominent politicians Fung Chi-wood, Lau Kong-wah and Choy Kan-pui launched their political careers. Lau and Choy later quit the pro-democracy United Democrats of Hong Kong (UDHK) after the 1991 Legislative Council direct election and formed a new district-based pro-Beijing political group Civil Force which dominated the council since its establishment.

In 2014, Regina Ip's New People's Party (NPP) expanded its network to Sha Tin by absorbing the Civil Force, making NPP the largest party in the district. In the 2015 District Council election, the first election after the Umbrella Revolution, the pan-democrats made a surprising advance in the district, doubling their seats from 8 to 19 seats by defeating a number of veteran Civil Force councillors. However, The pro-Beijing camp retained control of the council with a one-seat majority of the ex officio seat occupied by the Sha Tin Rural Committee chairman.

Political control

Since 1982 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:

Political makeup

Elections are held every four years.

Members represented (2016 - present)

As of 1st February, 2017:

Leadership

Chairs

Since 1985, the chairman is elected by all the members of the board:

Vice Chairs

References

Coordinates: 22°23′08″N 114°11′13″E / 22.385650°N 114.186977°E / 22.385650; 114.186977