2008 President of the Hong Kong Legislative Council election

The election for the President of the Fourth Legislative Council took place on 8 October 2008 for members of the 4th Legislative Council of Hong Kong to among themselves elect the President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for the duration of the Council.

Election for the President of the
Fourth Legislative Council

← 2004 8 October 2008 2012 →

Majority party Minority party   Candidate Jasper Tsang Fred Li Party DAB Democratic Constituency Hong Kong Island Kowloon East Votes 36 (60%) 24 (40%)

President before election Rita Fan Nonpartisan Elected President Jasper Tsang DAB

Proceedings

 

Albert Ho presided over the election

According to Article 71 of the Hong Kong Basic Law and Rule 4 of the Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Council, the President of the Legislative Council has to be a Chinese citizen of 40 years old or above, a permanent resident of Hong Kong with no right of abode in any foreign country, and has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for not less than 20 years continuously.^[1]

Albert Ho, as the most senior member of the parliament, presided over the special forum on 6 October, which allowed candidates to present their manifesto and answer questions from other members, and the election.^[2][3] Before the voting began, Leung Kwok-hung and Chan Wai-yip, the two radical democrats, questioned if Tsang was a member of the Chinese Communist Party, but Ho insisted no Q&A for the voting session. Tsang, after election, also declined to comment.^[4]

Candidates

Candidate	Party affiliation		Political camp	Born	Political office
Jasper Tsang GBM JP		DAB	Pro-Beijing	17 May 1947 (age 61) Guangzhou, China	Chairman of Committee on Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Council (2004–2008) Member of the Legislative Council for Hong Kong Island (since 2008) Member of the Legislative Council for Kowloon West (1998–2008) Member of the Provisional Legislative Council (1996–1998) Non-official Member of the Executive Council (2002–2008) Chairman of the DAB (1992-2003)
Fred Li		Democratic	Pan-democracy	22 April 1955 (age 57) Hong Kong	Chair of Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene (2000–2006) Chair of Panel on Manpower (1998–1999) Member of the Legislative Council for Kowloon East (since 1998, 1991–1995) Member of the Legislative Council for Kowloon South-east (1995–1997) Member of the Kwun Tong District Council (1988–1994)

Results

This election marks the first time in Hong Kong's history the presidency is occupied by a party member, as the predecessors are all independents or nonpartisans, despite they might lean towards political camps. Tsang thanked the colleagues' support and vowed to do his best.^[5] He also resigned as the member of the Executive Council to avoid role conflict.^[6]

As Li received 24 votes against 23 democrats, a member of the pro-Beijing camp voted for the rivalry Li from the pan-democracy camp in the secret ballot.^[7] However, it was also unknown whether all 23 democrats voted for Li.

Candidate		Votes	%
	Jasper Tsang  Y	36	60
	Fred Li	24	40
Spoilt/rejected ballots		0	0
Turnout		60	100

References

1. Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region/Chapter IV/Section 3  – via Wikisource.
2. "Election of President" (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hong Kong: Legislative Council. 2008-10-08. pp. 8–12.
3. "立法會主席一職的候選人陳述競選綱領和回答提問的特別論壇" (PDF).
4. "曾鈺成36票對24票當選立會主席". Hong Kong Economic Journal. 2008-10-09. pp. P10.
5. "大熱當選立會主席曾鈺成：衷誠合作挑戰變成就". Hong Kong Commercial Daily. 2008-10-09. pp. B02.
6. "將辭任行會成員 曾鈺成當選立法會主席". Sing Tao Daily. 2008-10-09. pp. A08.
7. "是否共黨備受質疑曾鈺成當選立會主席　建制七子棄黃宜弘劉慧卿任財會主席". Apple Daily. 2008-10-09. pp. A06.