The Democratic Party leadership election was held on 12 December 2004 for the 30-member of the 6th Central Committee of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, including chairman and two vice-chairman posts. It was the first contested chairmanship election in the party's history. Legislative Council member and party's Vice-Chairman Lee Wing-tat defeated the Chan King-ming, succeeding Yeung Sum as the Chairman of the party.
Eligibility
The Central Committee was elected by the party congress. All public office holders, including the members of the Legislative Council and District Councils, are eligible to vote in the party congress. Every 30 members can also elect a delegate who holds one vote in the congress.[1]
Overview
Chairman Yeung Sum announced he would not seek for re-election after the party performed badly in the 2004 Hong Kong Legislative Council election in September. The incumbent Vice-Chairmen Lee Wing-tat and Albert Ho Chun-yan were believed to be interested in succeeding Yeung. Lee Wing-tat had expressed that he would run for Chairman in the December party leadership election. Ho also said Lee was an suitable candidate.[2][deprecated source] However, Albert Ho said he was not keen to run for the Chairmanship because he was busy working for other organisations, such as the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China where he was the Secretary. Chan King-ming, who was seen as a Reformist said a genuine contest for the leadership was necessary for the party's future.[3]
In the election on 12 December, Lee Wing-tat, the major figure in the mainstreamer faction defeated Chan King-ming from the Young Turks faction with 189 to 113 votes. Chan who was also a Vice-Chairman candidate and Albert Ho both got elected with 205 votes, higher than the third candidate Zachary Wong Wai-yin who only got 96 votes, being elected as the new two Vice-Chairmen.[4]
The elected members of the 6th Central Committee are listed as following:
1.^ Ng Kim-sing and Wong Chun-wai received the same number of votes so a by-election was held later, in which Ng was elected to the Central Committee.
References
^Kuan, Hsin-chi; Liu, Zhaojia; Wang, Jiaying, eds. (2002). Out of the Shadow of 1997?: The 2000 Legislative Council Election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Chinese University Press. p. 156.
^李永達當選民主黨主席. Epoch Times (in Chinese). 13 December 2004.
^Cheung, Gary; Leung, Ambrose (23 November 2004). "Two expected to join Democrat contest".
