Hong Kong local elections, 2015

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Hong Kong local elections, 2015
Hong Kong
2011 ←
22 November 2015 → 2019

All Elected Constituencies
431 (of the 458) seats in all 18 Districts Councils
Turnout 47.01%
  First party Second party Third party
  Starry Lee Wai King.jpg Emily Lau 2012.jpg Lam Suk-yee.jpg
Leader Starry Lee Emily Lau Lam Suk-yee
Party DAB Democratic FTU
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing
Last election 136 seats, 23.89% 47 seats, 17.42% 11 seats, 3.10%
Seats won 119 43 27
Seat change Steady Increase1 Decrease2
Popular vote 309,262 196,068 88,292
Percentage 21.39% 13.56% 6.11%
Swing Decrease2.50% Decrease3.86% Increase3.01%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  Regina Ip at VP New Year Fair 2009.jpg Liu Sung Lee.jpg ND
Leader Regina Ip Bruce Liu Collective leadership
Party NPP ADPL Neo Democrats
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy Pro-democracy
Last election 19 seats, 4.30% 15 seats, 3.85% 8 seats, 2.15%
Seats won 25 18 15
Seat change Decrease2 Increase2 Increase8
Popular vote 75,793 55,275 42,148
Percentage 5.24% 3.82% 2.92%
Swing Increase0.94% Decrease0.03% Increase0.77%

2015DCelectionmap.svg

Map of the winning party by constituency

The 2015 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 22 November 2015.[1] Elections were held to all 18 District Councils, returning 431 members from directly elected constituencies after all appointed seats had been abolished.

A record-breaking of 1.4 million voters, 47.01% of the registered voters, cast their votes. The pro-Beijing camp retained its control of all 18 councils with the Beijing-loyalist party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) maintained the largest party far ahead of other parties. The pan-democrats failed to seize control of the Kwai Tsing District Council.

Both sides lost their heavyweight incumbent Legislative Councillors. Albert Ho Chun-yan of the Democratic Party and Frederick Fung Kin-kee of the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) who were both elected through District Council (Second) constituency lost their seats while Civic Party's Kenneth Chan Ka-lok failed to take a seat in the Southern District. DAB's incumbent legislators Christopher Chung Shu-kun and Elizabeth Quat both lost their seats to pro-democracy newcomers in which Chung lost his long hold seat to a relatively unknown "Umbrella soldier" Chui Chi-kin.

The "Umbrella soldiers" who were inspired by the 2014 Occupy protests had a better-than-expected results with seven of them managed to win a seat.[2] The pan-democrat Neo Democrats became the best performer in the election, which won 15 out of their 16 bids and jumped from 7 to 15 seats.

Boundary changes[edit]

As proposed in the Democratic Party's modified electoral reform package passed in 2010, all appointed seats were abolished in this election. After a review on the number of elected seats for each District Council having regard to the population forecast in mid-2015, the Electoral Affairs Commission proposed to increase 19 elected seats in 9 District Councils:[3]

  1. 1 new seat for in each Tsuen Wan and North District Councils;
  2. 2 new seats for each Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City, Kwun Tong, Yau Tsim Mong and Sha Tin District Councils;
  3. 3 new seats for the Sai Kung District Council; and
  4. 4 new seats for the Yuen Long District Council.

The total number of elected seats for the 2015 elections was increased by 19 from 412 to 431. Additionally, the boundaries of the Eastern and Wan Chai Districts were adjusted by transferring the Tin Hau and Victoria Park district council constituency areas from the Eastern District to the Wan Chai District.

Pre-election events[edit]

Umbrella movement[edit]

The 2014 Hong Kong protests sparked a fierce tussle between the pan-democrats and pro-Beijing camp as the democrats hailed a "civic awakening" while the pro-Beijing camp mobilised supporters to condemn the 79-day street blockade as an affront to the rule of law. The November District Council election is to be seen as the first big electoral test of the post-Occupy era. Both camps say events to come will have a bigger effect on voters, while the extent to which a political awakening among the city's youth will lead them to turn out to vote remains unclear. The pan-democrats encourage young people who participated in the Occupy movement to register and vote in the district council poll.[4]

Lead-in-water scandal[edit]

The lead-in-water scandal began in June 2015 when the Democratic Party legislator, Helena Wong Pik-wan announced that testing of drinking water at Kai Ching Estate in Kowloon revealed lead contamination.[5] The Hong Kong Housing Authority subsequently confirmed that the levels of lead exceeded the standard established by the World Health Organisation.[5] Since the initial discovery at Kai Tak, lead contamination of drinking water has been found at numerous other housing estates, schools, and public buildings across Hong Kong. The lead contamination scandal caused widespread concern among the public in which the Democratic Party made a major comeback by being the first to reveal the scandal while the pro-Beijing camp was told to downplay the issue.[6]

Ballot-rigging[edit]

Following the last election in 2011, pan-democrats have complained of irregularities in voter registration records, and a number of candidates who lost in marginal seats made allegations of electoral fraud to the police. The government was criticised for failing to address the issue back in 2006 after alleged instances where multiple voters had registered under a same address surfaced. Before the last day for voters to check and update their particulars in order to vote in November, and for the public to report suspicious cases, the pan-democratic parties lodged a flood of complaints to the Registration and Electoral Office on 24 August 2015 about the records of over 550 voters with suspicious or false residential addresses on the eve of the election, and warning they could be "the tip of the iceberg".[7]

Catholic bishop's anti-gay pastoral letter[edit]

On 5 November 2015, the Catholic bishop of Hong Kong John Tong urged his flock to consider candidates' views on gay rights when voting in the district council elections in a pastoral letter, as certain social movements "are challenging and twisting" the city's core values on marriage and family. "In the upcoming district council election and future polls, I urge all believers … to consider candidates' and their parties' stance on family and marriage issues, as well as their position on" a law to ban discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, Tong wrote The pan-democratic parties - who have often found common cause with the Catholic Church on matters of democracy and human rights - criticised Tong's remarks. People Power legislator Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, who is openly gay, criticised Tong's message and said it reflected a backward view of social movements and possibly deviated from the Vatican's line. A spokesman for the Labour Party said Tong's view was "obviously different" from the remarks of Pope Francis, who in 2013 said: "If [homosexuals] accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them? They shouldn't be marginalised. The [homosexual] tendency is not the problem."[8]

Contesting parties and candidates[edit]

Parties[edit]

In the pro-Beijing camp, the flagship party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) filled a total of 171 candidates in the contest, followed by the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions with a total of 51 candidates of which 3 of them were also DAB members. The two relatively new pro-Beijing parties, the middle-class-oriented New People's Party (NPP) and the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) developed their forces at district level since their creations in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The New People's Party got 4 of the 12 candidates elected in 2011 and at least eight incumbent councillors had since joined the party, while a merger with Civil Force, a local political group with strongholds in the New Territories East, brought the number up to 30.[9] The NPP had a total of 42 contestants while the BPA had 16, slightly fewer than another pro-business party, the Liberal Party's 20 which four of the Liberal candidates failed to avoid direct competition with other pro-Beijing parties and would have to fight a fellow pro-Beijing candidate.[10]

The largest pro-democratic party Democratic Party filled 95 candidates, a sharp decline from the 2011 election's 132. The Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) came after the Democrats with 26 candidates, followed by the Civic Party's 25, Neo Democrats's 16, Labour Party's 12, People Power's 9, Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre's 6 and League of Social Democrats's 5. Many new pro-democracy groups formed by young people after the Occupy movement, including the Youngspiration, the Tsz Wan Shan Constructive Power, which aimed at Wong Tai Sin District Council, the North of the Rings, which worked in Sheung Shui and Fanling in North District, the East Kowloon Community which had its eyes on Kwun Tong District Council, and some other groups. More than 40 activists were running in the district council elections and some of them were with the "nativist" agenda.[11] While most Umbrella candidates have joined a co-ordination mechanism run by pan-democratic parties to avoid clashes between allies, six of them refused to do so and are running against the Democratic Party in areas where the party has had a close fight with the pro-establishment camp in previous elections.[12]

Candidates[edit]

A record-high 951 nominations were received for which six nominees withdrew their candidatures before the deadline. A total of 66 seats were uncontested, 10 less than in 2011, in which almost all of them went to the pro-Beijing camp. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong claimed 20 unclaimed seats, followed by New People's Party with seven and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) with six seats, while the Liberal Party took two. Two Legislative Council members Alice Mak Mei-kuen and Kwok Wai-keung of the FTU in Kwai Tsing's Wai Ying and Eastern District's Provident retained their seats without contest.[13]

The Legislative Council members elected through District Council (Second) constituency in 2012, the former chairman of the Democratic Party Albert Ho Chun-yan and former chairman of the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) Frederick Fung Kin-kee faced fierce challenges in their Tuen Mun's Lok Tsui and Sham Shui Po's Lai Kok constituencies. Ho faced 5 rivals including former president of the Law Society of Hong Kong Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, radical democratic group Civic Passion's Cheng Chung-tai and three other independent candidates. Fung faced his former party member Eric Wong Chung-ki and FTU's Chan Wing-yan.[13] Ho and Fung eventually lost their District Council seat and will have to adopt a new constituency for LegCo elections. Another District Council (Second) legislator, FTU's Chan Yuen-han and District Council (First) legislator, DAB's Ip Kwok-him are stepping down from Wong Tai Sin's Lung Sheung and Central and Western District's Kwun Lung, meaning that they will retire from their constituencies in next year's Legislative Council election.

Results[edit]

e • d Summary of the 22 November 2015 District Councils of Hong Kong election results
Political Affiliation Popular vote % % +/− Standing Elected +/−
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong 309,262 21.39 –2.50 171 119 ±0
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions 88,292 6.11 +3.01 48 27 –2
New People's Party 75,793 5.24 +0.94 42 25 –2
Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong 27,452 1.90 - 16 10 –4
Liberal Party 25,157 1.74 –0.24 20 9 –1
Kowloon West New Dynamic 11,647 0.81 - 5 3 –1
Federation of Public Housing Estates 3,457 0.24 - 1 1 +1
Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions 3,168 0.22 +0.06 2 1 ±0
New Territories Association of Societies 2,356 0.16 –0.03 2 2 ±0
New Century Forum 1,717 0.12 - 1 0 –1
Pro-Beijing Independents 239,609 16.68 - 177 100
Total for pro-Beijing camp 783,176 54.18 –1.24 482 295 –5
Democratic Party 196,068 13.56 –3.86 95 43 +1
Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood 55,275 3.82 –0.03 26 18 +2
Civic Party 52,346 3.62 –0.41 25 10 +3
Neo Democrats 42,148 2.92 +0.77 16 15 +8
Labour Party 23,029 1.59 - 12 3 +2
Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre 16,105 1.11 –0.11 6 5 ±0
League of Social Democrats 6,526 0.45 –1.40 5 0 ±0
Power for Democracy 3,938 0.27 –0.05 1 1 ±0
Sha Tin Community Network 3,718 0.26 - 2 1 +1
Individuals 52,612 3.64 - 38 9
Total for Democratic Coalition for DC Election 451,765 31.25 –0.04 226 104 +20
Youngspiration 12,520 0.87 - 9 1 +1
People Power 11,503 0.80 –1.19 9 0 ±0
Democratic Alliance 5,313 0.37 - 4 1 ±0
Tuen Mun Community 5,196 0.36 - 4 0 ±0
Civic Passion 3,006 0.21 - 6 0 ±0
East Kowloon Community 3,922 0.27 - 3 1 +1
Third Side 2,011 0.14 - 3 0 ±0
Tsz Wan Shan Constructive Power 3,633 0.25 - 2 0 ±0
The Frontier 2,974 0.21 - 1 1 ±0
North of the Rings 1,710 0.12 - 1 0 ±0
Land Justice League 1,482 0.10 –0.16 1 0 ±0
Tsuen Wan Dynamic for the People 1,500 0.10 - 1 0 ±0
Independent democrats and others 73,500 5.08 - 64 15 -
Total for pro-democracy camp 578,802 40.04 +0.70 333 124 +23
Independent and others 78,814 5.45 +0.21 117 9 ±0
Total vaild votes 1,445,526 100.0 - 935 431 +19
Invaild votes 21,730
Total (turnout 47.01%) 1,467,229


Results by district[edit]

Council Previous control Previous party Camp control Largest party DAB DP FTU NPP ADPL ND Civ BPA Lib Others Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing
Central and Western Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 6 4 1 4 4 11
Wan Chai Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 4 1 1 7 2 11
Eastern Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 10 2 6 4 2 11 10 24
Southern Pro-Beijing Democratic Pro-Beijing Democratic 2 4 1 1 9 5 12
Yau Tsim Mong Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 9 1 1 1 1 6 3 16
Sham Shui Po Pro-Beijing ADPL Pro-Beijing ADPL 5 1 9 1 2 1 4 11 12
Kowloon City Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 8 3 1 1 11 4 20
Wong Tai Sin Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 8 3 2 2 1 9 9 15
Kwun Tong Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 10 3 2 1 21 9 28
Tsuen Wan Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 4 1 1 2 1 2 7 4 13
Tuen Mun Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 8 4 4 4 3 6 8 21
Yuen Long Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 6 2 4 2 1 20 6 28
North Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 8 3 3 1 3 4 14
Tai Po Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 5 1 3 2 8 6 13
Sai Kung Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 8 2 1 3 5 8 10 13
Sha Tin Pro-Beijing NPP/CF Pro-Beijing NPP/CF 7 7 9 5 10 19 19
Kwai Tsing Pro-Beijing Democratic Pro-Beijing DAB 8 4 3 2 3 9 11 18
Islands Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 3 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 8

Vote summary[edit]







Circle frame.svg

Votes, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (54.18%)
  Pan-democrats (40.40%)
  Other (5.42%)







Circle frame.svg

Seats, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (68.45%)
  Pan-democrats (28.77%)
  Other (2.78%)
Popular vote
DAB
  
21.39%
Democratic
  
13.56%
FTU
  
6.61%
NPP
  
5.24%
ADPL
  
3.82%
Civic
  
3.62%
Neo Democrats
  
2.92%
BPA
  
1.90%
Liberal
  
1.74%
Labour
  
1.59%
NWSC
  
1.11%
Others
  
36.50%

Seat summary[edit]

Seats
DAB
  
27.61%
Democratic
  
9.98%
FTU
  
6.26%
NPP
  
5.80%
ADPL
  
4.18%
Neo Democrats
  
3.48%
Civic
  
2.32%
BPA
  
2.32%
Liberal
  
2.09%
NWSC
  
1.16%
Others
  
34.80%

Outcome[edit]

A historic turnout rate of 47 percent turnout rate was recorded in the election. The pro-Beijing camp remained control of all 18 District Councils with the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) the largest party far ahead of the others with 119 seats. The pan-democracy camp failed to reclaim control of the Kwai Tsing District Council which they won majority of the elected seats but was balanced by the appointed seats in the last election. Both pan-democrats and pro-Beijing camp won 19 seats in the Sha Tin District Council but pro-Beijing retained control with the ex officio Sha Tin Rural Committee Chairman.

Two pro-democracy District Council (Second) "super seat" Legislative Councillors Albert Ho Chun-yan and Frederick Fung Kin-kee were unseated by newcomers, while another pro-democracy figure James To Kun-sun kept his seat in Olympic and became the only one of the three pro-democracy super seat lawmakers to be able to seek a re-election in the same constituency in the Legislative Council election next year. In Lai Kok, Fung won 2,432 votes, 99 short of won by his challenger, 25-year-old Chan Wing-yan supported by both the DAB and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), while Fung’s former ally Eric Wong Chung-ki, who also stood against him in the same constituency, won 215 votes.[14] In Lok Tsui, Albert Ho won 1,617 votes, 125 fewer than former Law Society of Hong Kong president Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, while radical democrat Civic Passion's Cheng Chung-tai took 391 votes.[15]

At least seven candidates inspired by the 2014 Occupy protests scored unexpected success, with Chui Chi-kin, almost unknown to the public before he was elected, beat DAB legislator Christopher Chung Shu-kun with 2,017 votes against Chung's 1,829 votes in Yue Wan. Another DAB legislator Elizabeth Quat also lost her seat in Chung On to pro-democracy Labour Party Yip Wing. Wong Chi-ken, another of the dozens of 'Umbrella soldiers' ran under the banner of Kowloon East Community, won 1,729 votes against incumbent Fung Kam-yuen in Lok Wah North, who scored 1,246 votes. Clarisse Yeung Suet-ying, who ran in Tai Hang constituency, won 1,398 votes, 250 more votes than Gigi Wong Ching-chi of the New People's Party.[14] In Whampoa East, Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) legislator Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, who won 2,314 votes and beat 24-year-old Yau Wai-ching, another “Umbrella soldier” of Youngspiration, by less than 300 votes.[15] Another Youngspiration candidate Kwong Po-yin defeated incumbent Kowloon City District Council chairman Lau Wai-wing by 39 votes in Whampoa West.

The Neo Democrats, a breakaway group of the Democratic Party, fared especially well, winning 15 of 16 district seats they contested which made their total seats jumped from 7 to 15. The Civic Party won 10 seats in total, although legislator Kenneth Chan Ka-lok failed in his bid to run in South Horizons East and to secure an entry ticket to a super seat next year. The Democratic Party won one more seat and scored 43 in total. Several second-tier figures, including vice-chairman Lo Kin-hei and chief executive Lam Cheuk-ting, scored victories, while others like vice-chairman Andrew Wan Siu-kin lost.[15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Polling date for 2015 District Council ordinary election published". Hong Kong Government. 13 March 2015. 
  2. ^ Cheung, Tony (23 November 2015). "Hong Kong district council elections: the top 4 surprises and what they mean to the future of politics in the city". South China Morning Post. 
  3. ^ "Report on the Recommended Constituency Boundaries for the 2015 District Council Election" (PDF). Electoral Affairs Commission. 5 November 2014. 
  4. ^ Cheung, Tony (2 February 2015). "How will Hong Kong pro-democracy protests affect district elections?". South China Morning Post. 
  5. ^ a b Lo, Arthur (13 July 2015). "Explainer: How the water lead contamination scare became a citywide concern". Hong Kong Free Press. 
  6. ^ Lai, Chak-fun (23 July 2015). "Why it’s time for the opposition to mount a major offensive". ejinsight. 
  7. ^ Ng, Kang-chung (25 August 2015). "'Tip of the iceberg': Warning from pan-democratic parties over 400 suspicious Hong Kong voter records". South China Morning Post. 
  8. ^ Cheung, Tony; Lau, Stuart (7 November 2015). "Catholic bishop of Hong Kong hits out at gay marriage and tells flock to consider the issue before voting". South China Morning Post. 
  9. ^ Cheung, Tony (5 April 2015). "Pro-establishment camp divided ahead of district council elections". South China Morning Post. 
  10. ^ Lau, Stuart (22 October 2015). "Hong Kong's pro-establishment candidates face battle for share of vote in district council elections". South China Morning Post. 
  11. ^ Ng, Joyce; Lau, Stuart (7 April 2015). "Hong Kong post-Occupy young bloods eye up district council elections". South China Morning Post. 
  12. ^ Ng, Joyce (22 October 2015). "On the warpath: 'umbrella soldiers' challenge old guard in Hong Kong's district council elections". South China Morning Post. 
  13. ^ a b Ng, Joyce; Lam, Jeffie (15 October 2015). "Hong Kong district council elections see record number of candidates in first citywide polls since Occupy movement". South China Morning Post. 
  14. ^ a b "Record turnout for Hong Kong's district council elections; two pan-democratic big guns out, three new pro-Occupy candidates win". South China Morning Post. 23 November 2015. 
  15. ^ a b c "Out with the old: Two big-name pan-democrats ousted in tight district council election races". South China Morning Post. 23 November 2015. 

External links[edit]

Official website[edit]

Manifestos and platforms[edit]