Civic Party
 |
Civic Party | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Kuan Hsin-chi |
| Leader | Audrey Eu |
| Founded | 19 March 2006 |
| Headquarters | Unit B, 16/F, Wing Hang Finance Centre 60 Gloucester Road Wanchai, Hong Kong |
| Ideology | Centrism, Social Liberalism |
| National affiliation | Hong Kong Pro-democracy camp |
| Colours | Purple |
| Legislative Council |  |
| District Council |  |
| Website | |
| http://www.civicparty.hk/ | |
Civic Party (Chinese: 公民黨) is a liberal democratic[citation needed] political party in Hong Kong.
The Civic Party is currently the third largest political party in the Hong Kong Legislative Council, with five members securing seats in the 2008 Hong Kong Legislative Council elections.
History
Founding
The Civic Party was officially founded on 19 March 2006 by members of the Article 45 Concern Group, student leaders and pro-democracy advocates, primarily from the legal profession and the academic field. Kuan Hsin-chi became the first Chairman and Audrey Eu Yuet-mee the first Leader of the Party. At the time of formation, the Party had six members (Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu Hung, Audrey Eu, Alan Leong Kah Kit, Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, Mandy Tam Heung-man and Ronny Tong Ka Wah) in the Legislative Council, making it the fourth largest Party.
Chief Executive Election 2007
In February 2007, Civic Party legislator Alan Leong secured 132 nominations and became the first pro-democracy Chief Executive candidate in the history of Hong Kong. He eventually lost by 123 to 649 votes to favourite Sir Donald Tsang in the election.
Legislative Council Election 2008
The Civic Party won five seats in the 2008 Legislative Council election. In the geographical constituencies, Tanya Chan and Audrey Eu secured seats on Hong Kong Island, Alan Leong in Kowloon East, and Ronny Tong in New Territories East; Margaret Ng was re-elected as the Legal functional constituency representative.
During the election campaign, poll numbers consistently showed a high level of support for the Party in several geographical constituencies. However, with the exception of the Hong Kong Island ticket, the Party's results failed to match pre-election predictions. Ronny Tong only took the sixth out of seven seats in his constituency, Alan Leong the final seat, while Claudia Mo Man-ching and Fernando Cheung lost in their respective constituencies. The underperformance was blamed on the low turn-out and the Party's lack of district work. [citation needed]
Structure
The Party is managed by the nineteen-member Executive Committee, headed by the Chairman and Leader. It has five Policy Branches, five District Branches, and a youth branch known as the Young Civics.
The admittance of any new member must be backed by two existing members. In addition, a prospective member must complete local branch work for one year before being inducted as an ordinary member.
Party beliefs
The Party is considered part of the pan-democratic camp in the Legislative Council. It aims to set up a society built upon the rule of law, protection of individual rights, and universal suffrage.
During the 2008 Legislative Council election campaign, candidates from the Party also called for the introduction of a statutory minimum wage and a competition law.
Leading figures
- Dr Kuan Hsin-chi: Chairman
- Audrey Eu: Party Leader, Chairman of Hong Kong Island Branch, and 2008 Legislative Councillor for Hong Kong Island
- Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu Hung: Vice-chairman, Chairman of New Territories West Branch, and former Legislative Councillor for the Social Welfare functional constituency
- Albert Lai Kwong-tak: Vice-chairman, and Chairman of Environment and Sustainable Development Branch
- Joseph Cheng Yu-shek: Secretary General
- Mandy Tam: Treasurer, and former Legislative Councillor for the Accountancy functional constituency
- Alan Leong: Chairman of Kowloon East Branch, and 2008 Legislative Councillor for Kowloon East
- Ronny Tong: Chairman of New Territories East Branch, and 2008 Legislative Councillor for New Territories East
- Margaret Ng: Chairman of Constitution & Governance Branch, and 2008 Legislative Councillor for the Legal functional constituency
External links
- Template:Zh icon Template:En icon Civic Party Official Site
- Template:En icon Civic Party embarks on path to power - The Hong Kong Standard newspaper article
- Template:Zh icon New political party to be established within this month - a45 newspaper
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