The 2003 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 23 November 2003 for all 18 districts of Hong Kong, 400 members from directly elected constituencies out of total 529 council members. It was the second District Council election after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997.
After the election, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa appointed 102 pro-government members to the District Councils to dilute the influence of the pro-democrats and retained control of some of the councils.
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 managed to present a united platform in the District Council election. More than two hundred candidates form all pro-democracy parties and groups supported the direct election of the Chief Executive by 2007; direct elections of all seats of the Legislative Council by 2008; the initiation of public consultations on political reforms by the government before the end of 2003; and the abolition of all appointed seats to the District Councils after the November 2003 elections.[1]
An unprecedented record of 44 percent, in total of 1.06 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. The pro-democracy flagship party Democratic Party became the clear winner by winning the most number of 95 seats. Cyd Ho's Civic Act-up which was established after the July 1 protest also captured three seats in the Wan Chai District Council and was able to control the council for the first time with the other independent councillors. Only 62 of the 206 DAB candidates were elected, which became the worst defeat in DAB's history. Tsang Yok-sing took responsibility for the electoral setback and resigned his chairman post. He claimed that the defeat was due to the DAB's unfortunate "Tung loyalist" public image.[2]
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:[3]
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."[4]
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."[4]
Referencesedit
^Cheng, Joseph Y. S. (2007). The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Its First Decade. City University of HK Press. pp. 42–3.
^ abc"【蘋話當年】2003年民建聯區選大敗 曾鈺成辭任主席". Apple Daily. 24 November 2014.
^Frank Ching, "Tsang grooms his kind of political talent", Pg A12, South China Morning Post, 24 June 2008
^ abMichael Ng, Tung picks 'dilute' bodies 2011-05-22 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 29 December 2003
April 11, 2024
2003, hong, kong, local, elections, 2003, hong, kong, district, council, elections, were, held, november, 2003, districts, hong, kong, members, from, directly, elected, constituencies, total, council, members, second, district, council, election, after, handov. The 2003 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 23 November 2003 for all 18 districts of Hong Kong 400 members from directly elected constituencies out of total 529 council members It was the second District Council election after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 2003 Hong Kong local elections 1999 23 November 2003 2007 All Elected Constituencies400 of the 529 seats in all 18 Districts CouncilsRegistered2 973 612 4 98 Turnout1 066 373 44 10 8 28pp First party Second party Third party Leader Yeung Sum Tsang Yok sing Frederick FungParty Democratic DAB ADPLAlliance Pro democracy Pro Beijing Pro democracyLast election 86 seats 24 85 81 seats 23 53 19 seats 4 70 Seats won 95 62 25Seat change 17 21 4Popular vote 223 675 241 202 53 264Percentage 21 27 22 94 5 07 Swing 3 57pp 0 59pp 0 36pp Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party Leader Lau Kong wah James Tien Ambrose LauParty Civil Force Liberal HKPAAlliance Pro Beijing Pro Beijing Pro BeijingLast election 11 seats 2 42 15 seats 3 42 16 seats 2 65 Seats won 17 14 13Seat change 3 1 5Popular vote 25 720 29 108 29 091Percentage 2 45 2 77 2 77 Swing 0 02pp 0 65pp 0 12pp Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party Leader Emily Lau Leung Yiu chung Johnny MakParty Frontier NWSC Democratic AllianceAlliance Pro democracy Pro democracy Pro democracyLast election 4 seats 1 16 2 seats 0 41 New partySeats won 6 4 4Seat change 1 1 2Popular vote 25 349 14 146 8 418Percentage 2 41 1 35 0 80 Swing 1 25pp 0 94pp N AMap of the winning party by constituencyThe election was historically significant as it was the first election came after the controversies over the legislation of the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 and the large scale July 1 protests in mid 2003 against the unpopular Tung Chee hwa administration The election saw the devastating defeat of the pro government pro Beijing camp The pro Beijing flagship party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong DAB received the largest defeat in the elections only 62 of the 206 of its candidates were elected The party s heavyweights Yeung Yiu chung Lau Kong wah and Ip Kwok him all lost their seats to the pro democracy challengers with Ip lost his longtime base of Kwun Lung to Cyd Ho of The Frontier Choy So yuk also faced challenge from Leung Kwok hung of April Fifth Action only retained her seat with narrow margin DAB chairman Tsang Yok sing resigned for the party s defeat after the election and subsequently was replaced by Ma Lik The pro democracy camp received overall success with Democratic Party winning the most of 95 seats After the election Chief Executive Tung Chee hwa appointed 102 pro government members to the District Councils to dilute the influence of the pro democrats and retained control of some of the councils Contents 1 Overview 2 Results 2 1 General outcome 2 2 Results by district 2 3 Vote summary 2 4 Seat summary 3 Aftermath 4 ReferencesOverview editBefore 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 managed to present a united platform in the District Council election More than two hundred candidates form all pro democracy parties and groups supported the direct election of the Chief Executive by 2007 direct elections of all seats of the Legislative Council by 2008 the initiation of public consultations on political reforms by the government before the end of 2003 and the abolition of all appointed seats to the District Councils after the November 2003 elections 1 The pro democrat candidates 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 South and Lau Kong wah s Kam To 2 Lau Kong wah stood in Kam To challenging Democratic Party s Shirley Ho Suk ping As Lau was the Legislative Councillor for New Territories East 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 Both Ho and Ip were members of the Legislative Council while Ip chaired the Legco committee on the national security bill Ho was supported by Article 45 Concern Group s Ronny Tong and Ip was supported by the DAB chairman Tsang Yok sing 2 An unprecedented record of 44 percent in total of 1 06 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 The pro democracy flagship party Democratic Party became the clear winner by winning the most number of 95 seats Cyd Ho s Civic Act up which was established after the July 1 protest also captured three seats in the Wan Chai District Council and was able to control the council for the first time with the other independent councillors Only 62 of the 206 DAB candidates were elected which became the worst defeat in DAB s history Tsang Yok sing took responsibility for the electoral setback and resigned his chairman post He claimed that the defeat was due to the DAB s unfortunate Tung loyalist public image 2 Results editGeneral outcome edit Summary of the 23 November 2003 District Councils of Hong Kong election results Political Affiliation Popular vote Standing Elected Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong 241 202 22 94 nbsp 0 59 200 62 nbsp 21Civil Force 25 720 2 45 nbsp 0 02 22 17 nbsp 3Liberal Party 29 108 2 77 nbsp 0 65 27 14 nbsp 1Hong Kong Progressive Alliance 29 091 2 77 nbsp 0 05 23 13 nbsp 5Wan Chai Community Union 1 189 0 11 1 1 Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions 2 766 0 26 nbsp 0 13 3 0 New Youth Forum 1 314 0 12 2 0 New Century Forum 833 0 08 1 0 Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions 1 1 Independent and others 156 827 14 92 136 92 nbsp 6Total for pro Beijing camp 489 889 46 48 nbsp 0 97 417 201 nbsp 28Democratic Party 223 675 21 27 nbsp 3 57 120 95 nbsp 17Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People s Livelihood 53 264 5 07 nbsp 0 36 37 25 nbsp 4Frontier 25 349 2 41 nbsp 1 25 14 6 nbsp 1Neighbourhood and Worker s Service Centre 14 146 1 35 nbsp 0 94 5 4 nbsp 1Yuen Long Tin Shui Wai Democratic Alliance 8 418 0 80 6 4 nbsp 2Civic Act up 5 170 0 49 5 3 nbsp 3Central and Western Democratic Power 5 748 0 55 4 2 Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions 4 032 0 38 3 2 nbsp 2Yuen Long Democratic Alliance 1 489 0 14 1 1 7 1 People Pile 2 888 0 27 3 0 April Fifth Action 1 149 0 11 1 0 Citizens Party 361 0 03 nbsp 0 22 1 0 nbsp 1Independent democrats 130 453 12 41 87 56 nbsp 8Total for pro democracy camp 477 596 45 54 nbsp 10 29 288 198 nbsp 38Independent and others 83 939 7 98 132 1 Total turnout 44 10 1 051 424 100 0 837 400 nbsp 10Results by district edit Council Previouscontrol Previousparty Post electioncontrol Largestparty DP DAB ADPL CF Lib PA TF CA Others Pro dem Pro Beijing Appointed amp ex officio Composition DetailsCentral amp Western Pro Beijing Democratic Pro Beijing Democratic 6 1 2 2 4 9 6 4 DetailsWan Chai Pro Beijing DAB NOC CAU 2 1 3 5 7 4 3 DetailsEastern Pro Beijing DAB Pro Beijing DAB 6 12 1 1 17 12 24 9 DetailsSouthern Pro Beijing Democratic Pro Beijing Democratic 2 1 2 12 2 15 4 DetailsYau Tsim Mong Pro Beijing Democratic Pro Beijing Democratic 4 2 3 7 9 7 4 DetailsSham Shui Po Pro democracy ADPL Pro democracy ADPL 2 1 13 5 17 4 5 DetailsKowloon City Pro Beijing PA Pro Beijing Democratic 7 2 3 3 1 6 12 10 5 DetailsWong Tai Sin Pro Beijing DAB Pro Beijing DAB 4 5 2 1 2 11 13 12 6 DetailsKwun Tong Pro Beijing Democratic Pro Beijing Democratic 9 4 1 20 20 14 8 DetailsTsuen Wan Pro Beijing Democratic Pro Beijing Democratic 5 1 1 1 9 11 6 5 2 DetailsTuen Mun Pro Beijing Democratic Pro Beijing DAB 9 9 4 1 6 14 15 7 1 DetailsYuen Long Pro Beijing DAB Pro Beijing DAB 2 4 1 1 21 7 22 7 6 DetailsNorth Pro Beijing Democratic Pro Beijing Democratic 8 5 3 10 6 5 4 DetailsTai Po Pro Beijing Democratic Pro Beijing Democratic 7 3 2 1 6 9 10 5 2 DetailsSai Kung Pro Beijing DAB Pro Beijing DAB 4 4 3 4 5 8 12 5 2 DetailsSha Tin Pro Beijing Civil Force Pro Beijing Civil Force 7 2 14 1 1 2 9 14 22 9 1 DetailsKwai Tsing Pro democracy Democratic Pro democracy Democratic 11 1 1 1 14 23 5 7 1 DetailsIslands Pro Beijing DAB Pro Beijing DAB 4 4 1 7 4 8 DetailsTOTAL 95 62 25 17 14 13 10 164 196 202 129Vote summary edit Votes of total by camp Pro Beijing 46 48 Pro democrats 45 54 Other 7 98 Seats of total by camp Pro Beijing 50 25 Pro democrats 49 50 Other 0 25 Popular voteDAB 22 94 Democratic 21 27 ADPL 5 07 Liberal 2 77 PA 2 77 Civil Force 2 45 Frontier 2 41 NWSC 1 35 Others 40 31 Seat summary edit SeatsDemocratic 23 75 DAB 15 50 ADPL 6 25 Civil Force 4 25 Liberal 3 50 PA 3 25 Frontier 1 75 NWSC 1 00 Others 40 75 Aftermath editIn 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 3 8 members of the Liberal Party 6 members of the DAB 6 members from the Progressive Alliance 1 from the New Century ForumProfessor 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 4 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 4 References edit Cheng Joseph Y S 2007 The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Its First Decade City University of HK Press pp 42 3 a b c 蘋話當年 2003年民建聯區選大敗 曾鈺成辭任主席 Apple Daily 24 November 2014 Frank Ching Tsang grooms his kind of political talent Pg A12 South China Morning Post 24 June 2008 a b Michael Ng Tung picks dilute bodies Archived 2011 05 22 at the Wayback Machine The Standard 29 December 2003 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 2003 Hong Kong local elections amp oldid 1091272552, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,