Tai Po District Council

Tai Po District Council 大埔區議會
Type
Type	Hong Kong District Council of the Tai Po District
History
Founded	1 April 1981 (1981-04-01) (District Board) 1 July 1997 (1997-07-01) (Provisional) 1 January 2000 (2000-01-01) (District Council)
Leadership
Chair	Kwan Wing-yip, Neo Democrats
Vice-Chair	Lau Yung-wai, Independent
Structure
Seats	21 councillors consisting of 19 elected and 2 ex officio members
Neo Dem	4 / 21
CA	4 / 21
TPDA	3 / 21
Civ Passion	1 / 21
Independent	9 / 21
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	24 November 2019
Meeting place
4/F, Tai Po Complex, 8 Heung Sze Wui Street, Tai Po, New Territories
Website
www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/tp/

Tai Po District Council (Chinese: 大埔區議會) is the district council for the Tai Po District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 district councils. Tai Po District currently consists of 21 members, of which the district is divided into 19 constituencies, electing a total of 19 with 2 ex officio members who are the Tai Po and Sai Kung North rural committee chairmen. The latest election was held on 24 November 2019.

History

Emblem of Tai Po District Board (1982–1997)

The Tai Po District Council was established on 1 April 1981 under the name of the Tai Po District Board as the result of the colonial Governor Murray MacLehose's District Administration Scheme reform. The District Board was partly elected with the ex-officio Regional Council members and chairmen of two Rural Committees, Tai Po and Sai Kung North, as well as members appointed by the Governor until 1994 when last Governor Chris Patten refrained from appointing any member.

The Tai Po District Board became Tai Po Provisional District Board after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was established in 1997 with the appointment system being reintroduced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. The current Tai Po District Council was established on 1 January 2000 after the first District Council election in 1999. The appointed seats were abolished in 2015 after the modified constitutional reform proposal was passed by the Legislative Council in 2010.

The Tai Po District Board was a stronghold of the conservative Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong (LDF) and its successor Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA) in the 1990s and early 2000s. The pro-business Liberal Party also established its presence in the district in the 1990s surrounding its chairman Allen Lee who was elected through the district in the 1995.

The pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the pro-democracy Democratic Party became the two dominant forces in the district after the handover. For the DAB, its vice-chairman Cheung Hok-ming who is also the chairman of the Tai Po Rural Committee has been the chairman of the council from 1994 to 2003 and again from 2008. For the Democratic Party, it was the base of the reformist "Young Turks" faction in the party represented by Legislative Councillor Andrew Cheng, until they broke away from the Democrats over the disagreement on the constitutional reform proposal in 2010 and formed the Neo Democrats.

In the 2019 election, the pro-democrats formed a coalition called Tai Po Democratic Alliance (TPDA) running in 17 constituencies against the pro-Beijing candidates. The pro-democrats achieved a historic landslide victory by sweeping all the elected seats in the council amid the massive pro-democracy protests. The pro-Beijing camp was completely wiped out except for the two ex-officio members who were also the Rural Committee chairmen.

Political control

Since 1982 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:

Camp in control	Largest party	Years	Composition
No Overall Control	None	1982 - 1985
Pro-government	Reform Club	1985 - 1988
Pro-government	Meeting Point	1988 - 1991
Pro-government	LDF	1991 - 1994
Pro-Beijing	Liberal	1994 - 1997
Pro-Beijing	Liberal	1997 - 1999
Pro-Beijing	Democratic	2000 - 2003
Pro-Beijing	Democratic	2004 - 2007
Pro-Beijing	DAB	2008 - 2011
Pro-Beijing	DAB	2012 - 2015
Pro-Beijing	DAB	2016 - 2019
Pro-democracy	Neo Democrats	2020 - 2023

Political makeup

Elections are held every four years.

	Political party	Council members							Current members
		1994	1999	2003	2007	2011	2015	2019
bgcolor=Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color |	Independent	3	8	5	8	8	8	6	9 / 21
style="background-color:Template:Neo Democrats/meta/color"|	Neo Dem	-	-	-	-	2	3	4	4 / 21
style="background-color:Template:Community Alliance/meta/color"|	CA	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	4 / 21
style="background-color:Template:Tai Po Democratic Alliance/meta/color"|	TPDA	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	3 / 21
style="background-color:Template:Civic Passion/meta/color"|	Civic Passion	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1 / 21

District result maps

• 
  1994
• 
  1999
• 
  2003
• 
  2007
• 
  2011
• 
  2015
• 
  2019

Members represented

Starting from 1 January 2020:

Code	Constituency	Name	Political affiliation		Notes
P01	Tai Po Hui	Lam Ming-yat style="width: 2px; background-color: #20B267;" data-sort-value="Tai Po Democratic Alliance" |	TPDA
P02	Chung Ting	Man Nim-chi style="width: 2px; background-color: #1E4399;" data-sort-value="Community Alliance" |	Community Alliance/TPDA
P03	Tai Po Central	Au Chun-wah style="width: 2px; background-color: #1E4399;" data-sort-value="Community Alliance" |	Community Alliance/TPDA
P04	Tai Yuen	Au Chun-ho style="width: 2px; background-color: #1E4399;" data-sort-value="Community Alliance" |	Community Alliance/TPDA
P05	Fu Heng	Ho Wai-lam style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |	Independent
P06	Yee Fu	Yam Kai-bong style="width: 2px; background-color: #F9B924;" data-sort-value="Neo Democrats" |	Neo Democrats
P07	Fu Ming Sun	Kwan Wing-yip style="width: 2px; background-color: #F9B924;" data-sort-value="Neo Democrats" |	Neo Democrats
P08	Kwong Fuk & Plover Cove	Dalu Lin Kok-cheung style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |	Independent
P09	Wang Fuk	Yiu Kwan-ho style="width: 2px; background-color: #1E4399;" data-sort-value="Community Alliance" |	Community Alliance/TPDA
P10	Tai Po Kau	Patrick Mo Ka-chun style="width: 2px; background-color: #20B267;" data-sort-value="Tai Po Democratic Alliance" |	TPDA
P11	Wan Tau Tong	Wong Siu-kin style="width: 2px; background-color: #FBDD07;" data-sort-value="Civic Passion" |	Civic Passion
P12	San Fu	Wu Yiu-cheong style="width: 2px; background-color: #F9B924;" data-sort-value="Neo Democrats" |	Neo Democrats
P13	Lam Tsuen Valley	Richard Chan Chun-chit style="width: 2px; background-color: #20B267;" data-sort-value="Tai Po Democratic Alliance" |	TPDA
P14	Po Nga	Chow Yuen-wai style="width: 2px; background-color: #F9B924;" data-sort-value="Neo Democrats" |	Neo Democrats
P15	Tai Wo	Olive Chan Wai-ka style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |	Independent
P16	Old Market & Serenity	Lau Yung-wai style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |	Independent
P17	Hong Lok Yuen	Zero Yiu Yeuk-sang style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |	Independent
P18	Shuen Wan	So Tat-leung style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |	Independent
P19	Sai Kung North	Tam Yi-pui style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |	Independent
Ex Officio	Tai Po Rural Committee Chairman	Lam Yick-kuen style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |	Independent
	Sai Kung North Rural Committee Chairman	Li Yiu-ban style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" |	Independent

Leadership

Chairs

Since 1985, the chairman is elected by all the members of the board:

Chairman		Years	Political Affiliation
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color"|	Nicky Lo Kar-chun	1981–1983	District Officer
bgcolor="Template:Nonpartisan/meta/color"|	Thomas Chan Chun-yuen	1983–1985	District Officer
bgcolor="Template:Heung Yee Kuk/meta/color"|	Ho Yung-sang	1985–1994	Heung Yee Kuk
bgcolor="Template:DABHK/meta/color"|	Cheung Hok-ming	1994–2003	DAB/Heung Yee Kuk
bgcolor="Template:DABHK/meta/color"|	Cheng Chun-ping	2004–2007	DAB
bgcolor="Template:DABHK/meta/color"|	Cheung Hok-ming	2008–2019	DAB/Heung Yee Kuk
bgcolor="Template:DABHK/meta/color"|	Wong Pik-kiu	2019–2019	DAB
bgcolor="Template:Neo Democrats/meta/color"|	Kwan Wing-yip	2020–present	Neo Democrats

Vice Chairs

Vice Chairman		Years	Political Affiliation
bgcolor="Template:DABHK/meta/color"|	Cheng Chun-ping	2000–2003	DAB
style="background: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color"|	Wan Kwok-lim	2004–2007	Independent
bgcolor="Template:Heung Yee Kuk/meta/color"|	Man Chen-fai	2008–2011	Heung Yee Kuk
bgcolor="Template:DABHK/meta/color"|	Wong Pik-kiu	2012–2019	DAB
bgcolor="Template:DABHK/meta/color"|	Cheng Chun-ping	2019	DAB
style="background: Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color"|	Lau Yung-wai	2020–present	Independent