Jump to content

2016 Hong Kong legislative election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 182.239.87.49 (talk) at 09:04, 17 August 2018 (→Results). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Hong Kong legislative election, 2016
← 2012 4 September 2016 2020 →
All 70 seats to the Legislative Council
36 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered3,779,085 (GC)
Turnout2,202,283 (58.28%)
Increase5.23pp[1]
  First party Second party Third party
  Starry Lee Emily Lau Andrew Leung
Leader Starry Lee Emily Lau Andrew Leung
Party DAB Democratic BPA
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pan-democracy Pro-Beijing
Leader's seat District Council (Second) New Territories East
(lost seat)[n 1] 		Industrial (First)
Last election 13 seats, 20.22% 6 seats, 13.65% New party
Seats won 12 7 7
Seat change Decrease1 Increase1 Steady
Popular vote 361,617 199,876 49,745
Percentage 16.68% 9.22% 2.29%
Swing Decrease3.54pp Decrease4.43pp N/A
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  Alan Leong Lam Shuk-yee Vincent Fang
Leader Alan Leong Lam Shuk-yee Vincent Fang
Party Civic FTU Liberal
Alliance Pan-democracy Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing
Leader's seat Kowloon East
(lost seat)[n 1] 		Did not stand Retired from Wholesale & Retail
Last election 6 seats, 14.08% 6 seats, 7.06% 5 seats, 2.64%
Seats won 6 5 4
Seat change Steady Decrease1 Decrease1
Popular vote 207,855 169,854 21,500
Percentage 9.59% 7.83% 0.99%
Swing Decrease4.49pp Increase0.77pp Decrease1.70pp
  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
  Regina Ip Erica Yuen Baggio Leung
Leader Regina Ip Erica Yuen
and Avery Ng 		Baggio Leung
Party NPP PP/LSD Youngspiration
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pan-democracy ALLinHK
Leader's seat Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island
(defeated)[n 1] 		New Territories East
Last election 2 seats, 3.76% 4 seats, 14.59% New party
Seats won 3 2 2
Seat change Increase1 Decrease1 Increase2
Popular vote 167,589 156,019 81,422
Percentage 7.73% 7.20% 3.75%
Swing Increase3.97pp Decrease7.39pp N/A
Elected candidates by each constituency
President before election

Jasper Tsang
DAB

Elected President

Andrew Leung
BPA

The 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 4 September 2016 for the 6th Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). A total of 70 members, 35 from geographical constituencies (GCs) and 35 from functional constituencies (FCs), were returned. The election came after the rejection of the 2016/2017 constitutional reform proposals which suggested the electoral method for the 2016 Legislative Council remains unchanged.

A historic record number of 2.2 million voters, 58 per cent of the registered electorate, turned out in wake of the 2014 pro-democracy Occupy movement often dubbed as the "Umbrella Revolution" with the localists emerged as a new political force behind the pro-Beijing and pan-democracy camps by winning six seats in the geographical constituencies and gaining nearly 20 per cent of the vote share.[2] Many new faces rose from the post-Occupy political forces got elected.[3] Demosisto's Nathan Law, a 23-year-old Occupy student leader became the youngest candidate to be elected in history along with his allies Lau Siu-lai and Eddie Chu.

Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching from the radical localist groups Youngspiration, and Cheng Chung-tai of Civic Passion, also won seats after they were allowed to enter the race following the government controversially disqualified six localists for their advocacy of Hong Kong independence.[3] As a result, four pan-democrats lost their seats, namely, Neo Democrats' Gary Fan, as well as three veterans, Lee Cheuk-yan and Cyd Ho of the Labour Party and the Frederick Fung of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood.

Many veteran pro-Beijing incumbents, including the LegCo president Jasper Tsang, also Chan Kam-lam and Tam Yiu-chung of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong's (DAB) and Chan Yuen-han of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) decided to step down, while pan-democrat heavyweights, including Civic Party leader Alan Leong, Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau and veterans Albert Ho and Sin Chung-kai, as well as pro-Beijing Liberal Party honorary chairman James Tien, chose to stand as second candidate to get their party's newcomers elected. Young Democrat Kwong Chun-yu received the most votes by winning nearly 500,000 votes in the District Council (Second) "super seat".

Together with the six post-Occupy radicals and localists, the anti-establishment forces won 29 out of 70 seats; managed to retain the majority in the geographical constituencies to block the pro-establishment camp's attempt to amend the rule of procedures to curb radicals' filibustering, as well as the opposition's crucial one-thirds minority to maintain the veto power on government's constitutional reform proposals.

Background

Electoral reform failure and Umbrella Revolution

Main articles: 2014–15 Hong Kong electoral reform and 2014 Hong Kong protests

The election comes after the rejection of constitutional reform proposals of the Leung Chun-ying administration in mid-2015 meant the electoral method for the Legislative Council (LegCo) in 2016 was unchanged.[4] On 31 August 2014, the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) set limits for the 2016 Legislative Council and 2017 Chief Executive elections. While reaffirming the electoral method for the 2016 Legislative Council election remained unchanged, the 2014 NPCSC decision allowed the Chief Executive (CE) to be directly elected but "unpatriotic" candidates would have to be screened out by a Beijing-controlled nominating committee.[5] In response to the NPCSC decision, the student activists staged a class boycott which led into a months-long large-scale occupy movement as proposed by the Occupy Central, which was referred as the "Umbrella Revolution".[6][7]

The government proposals were overwhelmingly rejected in the Legislative Council following a failed walk-out by the pro-Beijing camp on 18 June 2015. In response, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying urged the voters to "punish" the opposition democratic candidates by voting them out in the upcoming legislative election.[8]

Emergence of new political forces

See also: New Territories East by-election, 2016

The emergence of new political groups led by young activists began to influence the political landscape: Edward Leung of Hong Kong Indigenous, a pro-independence localist group, received a better-than expected result in the New Territories East by-election in February 2016 by taking more than 66,000 votes and gaining about 15 percent of the total votes. After the election, Edward Leung claimed localism had become the third most important power grouping in Hong Kong politics alongside the pan-democracy and pro-Beijing camps.[9] A day after the election, three localist groups, Wong Yuk-man's Proletariat Political Institute, Wong Yeung-tat's Civic Passion and Chin Wan's Hong Kong Resurgence Order, announced to run in the upcoming election.[10]

On 10 April 2016, six localist groups which emerged after the 2014 Umbrella Revolution, Youngspiration, Kowloon East Community, Tin Shui Wai New Force, Cheung Sha Wan Community Establishment Power, Tsz Wan Shan Constructive Power and Tuen Mun Community, formed an electoral alliance under the name "ALLinHK" planned to field candidates in four of the five geographical constituencies with the agenda to put forward a referendum on Hong Kong's self-determination, while Hong Kong Indigenous and another new pro-independence Hong Kong National Party also stated that they would run in the upcoming election.[11]

Also on 10 April 2016, the student leaders in the Umbrella Revolution, Joshua Wong, Oscar Lai and Agnes Chow of Scholarism and Nathan Law of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) formed a new party called Demosistō and aimed to field candidates in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon East.[12] The new party calls for referendum on Hong Kong's future after 2047 when the one country, two systems is supposed to expire.[13]

Ronny Tong's Path of Democracy and Tik Chi-yuen's Third Side, the two new political groups which split from the Civic Party and Democratic Party respectively, seek a middle path between the pro-Beijing camp and pan-democracy camp on achieving democracy, with plans to field candidates in the geographical constituency election.

Political scientist Professor Ma Ngok believed the soaring number of political groups and candidates, which was the reflection of the increasing fragmentation of the pro-democracy camp, might split the pro-democracy votes.[14]

ThunderGo plan

In early 2016, Occupy Central co-founder Benny Tai, who was inspired by the electoral victory the Democratic Progressive Party received in the 2016 Taiwanese legislative election, mapped out a "ThunderGo plan" for pan-democrats to grab half of the seats in the Legislative Council election to increase political leverage in future political reform. He suggests the anti-establishment forces to field no more than 23 lists if their goal was to win 23 seats in the geographical constituencies, six tickets for nine-seat New Territories West and New Territories East, four tickets for six-seat Hong Kong Island and Kowloon West, and three for five-seat Kowloon East respectively.[15] For the functional constituencies, Tai suggested that besides retaining the current six trade-based functional constituencies and three territory-wide directly elected District Council (Second) super seats, the camp needs to target three additional seats in Medical, Engineering and Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape.[15] The plan met with reservations from the very diverse interests within pro-democracy political parties, who could not agree on a united front. Tai's plan hit its setback when the Neo Democrats decided not to support the proposed coordinating mechanism for the District Council (Second) super seats in May.[15][16]

Tai also worked on a "smart voters" system involving 25,000 voters who would indicate their preferences on an interactive poll via Telegram and would be informed of the popularity of candidates according to polls the day before the official vote and which would be updated through exit polling two and a half hours before polls closed. Such "smart voters" would delay voting until 8pm and then be signalled to support candidates whose numbers were weaker instead wasting votes on stronger candidates who were already through.[17]

Pre-election issues

Leung Chun-ying's re-election

See also: Leung Chun-ying as Chief Executive of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2017

The pan-democracy camp campaigned to block Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, whose popularity dropped to a new low, from serving a second term. Technology and media entrepreneur Ricky Wong Wai-kay, whose Hong Kong Television Network (HKTV) free-to-air television licence was denied by Leung's Executive Council in October 2013 and sparked public uproar and protests, also started his "ABC campaign" (Anyone but CY) by announcing Leung's exit as his key campaign platform.[18] Wong was backed by the Liberal Party, a pro-Beijing party representing the business sector which had been at odds with the Chief Executive since the 2012 Chief Executive election when the Liberals openly opposed Leung.

On 28 July, President of the Legislative Council Jasper Tsang and Financial Secretary John Tsang both expressed interest in running for the Chief Executive in 2017 on different occasions. Political analysts said that the duo's moves would take some pressure off pro-Beijing camp preparing for the Legislative Council election as pro-Beijing candidates had struggled when asked in public if they supported Leung's re-election.[19]

Causeway Bay bookseller disappearances

Main article: Causeway Bay Books disappearances

Lam Wing-kee, one of the five Causeway Bay booksellers who went missing from October 2015 returned to Hong Kong and revealed at a press conference in June 2016 that he was kidnapped at the China–Hong Kong border in October and put through eight months of mental torture. The controversy ignited fears that mainland law enforcement officers might have acted within the territory of Hong Kong and shook Hong Kong's confidence in the one country, two systems. Professor Lau Siu-kai, former head of the Hong Kong government's think tank, the Central Policy Unit, worried that more people might vote for pan-democracy camp in September's election.[20]

Resignations of ICAC heads controversy

See also: Leung Chun-ying–UGL agreement

In July, acting head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Rebecca Li Bo-lan resigned after she was removed from her position by ICAC commissioner Simon Peh Yun-lu, less than a year after he appointed her. The rare move amid speculation that Li was removed over an investigation into Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's receipt of HK$50 million from Australian firm UGL Limited.[21] Less than a week later, long-serving ICAC principal investigator Dale Ko also resigned without any meaningful official explanation. The controversy sparked calls for a special Legislative Council investigation and raised fears about the reputation of the anti-corruption body.[22]

Ban on pro-independence candidates controversy

Main article: Hong Kong LegCo candidates' disqualification controversy

On 14 July 2016, the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) announced its plan to require all candidates to sign an additional "confirmation form" in the nomination to declare their understanding of Hong Kong being an inalienable part of China as stipulated in the Basic Law, in response to many potential localist candidates advocating or promoting Hong Kong independence. The EAC states that anyone making a false declaration in the nomination form was liable to criminal sanction.[23]

EAC returning officers also sent emails to several applicants who had not been confirmed as official candidates, including Hong Kong Indigenous' Edward Leung, Civic Passion's Alvin Cheng, Hong Kong National Party's Chan Ho-tin, to ask whether they would still advocate independence after submitting the nomination form.[24] Those questions were claimed to be a factor to determine the validity of their nominations.

After the end of the nomination period, six localist candidates received emails from the EAC which said their nominations were "invalidated", which included Chan Ho-tin, Democratic Progressive Party's Yeung Ke-cheong, Nationalist Hong Kong's Nakade Hitsujiko, Conservative Party's Alice Lai Yee-man, Hong Kong Indigenous' Edward Leung and independent Chan Kwok-keung, although many of them had signed the additional confirmation form; all except Yeung had signed the declaration statement in the nomination form saying they would "uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong SAR" as required by the Legislative Council Ordinance. New Territories East constituency returning officer Cora Ho Lai-sheung rejected Edward Leung's nomination on the basis that she did not trust Leung "genuinely changed his previous stance for independence."[25][26]

Contesting parties and candidates

A historic record of 289 validly nominated candidates contested in the election, two more than the previous election, after seven candidates were disqualified, six of whom due to their pro-independence stance, and two withdrew their candidatures. 84 lists with a total of 213 candidates contested the 35 geographical constituencies, while 55 candidates contested in the traditional functional constituencies, 43 of them ran for 18 seats in the functional constituencies. A total of 21 candidates belonging to 9 lists contested the five "super seats" in the District Council (Second) functional constituency.[27]

Pro-Beijing camp

Pan-democracy camp

Localist groups

Moderate groups

  • Path of Democracy: The new moderate group led by former Civic Party legislator Ronny Tong fielded two candidates, governors Gary Wong Chi-him and Raymond Mak Ka-chun in Hong Kong Island and New Territories East.[50][51]
  • Third Side: The new moderate party led by former Democratic Party vice-chairman Tik Chi-yuen planned to field candidates in Kowloon West and two New Territories constituencies, but later dropped out of the New Territories East contest and triggered the departure of ten party member including two vice-chairmen Marcus Liu Tin-shing and Ben Kuen Ping-yiu.[52][53][54] Liu and Kuen later led an independent ticket in New Territories East; another party member Wong Sing-chi decided to run in Social Welfare as an independent.

Retiring incumbents

Constituency Departing incumbents Party
Hong Kong Island Kenneth Chan Civic
Jasper Tsang DAB
Kowloon East Chan Kam-lam DAB
New Territories West Tam Yiu-chung DAB
Heung Yee Kuk Lau Wong-fat BPA
Medical Leung Ka-lau Nonpartisan
Social Welfare Cheung Kwok-che Labour/SWGU
Industrial (Second) Lam Tai-fai Nonpartisan
Finance Ng Leung-sing Nonpartisan
Wholesale and Retail Vincent Fang Liberal
District Council (First) Ip Kwok-him DAB
District Council (Second) Chan Yuen-han FTU

Campaign

Election strategies

Many political parties and groups and individuals formed strategic alliances in the campaign. Alvin Yeung of the Civic Party who led in the opinion polls in the New Territories East cooperated with Labour Party's Fernando Cheung who traced behind in the polls. Leung Yiu-chung of the Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre (NWSC) who ran in the territory-wide District Council (Second) "super seat" also had joint-promotional leaflets with Lau Siu-lai of Democracy Groundwork in Kowloon West. Liberal Party honorary chairman James Tien who was running in the New Territories East and "middle-of-the-road" politician Ricky Wong Wai-kay who aimed at the last seat in Hong Kong Island also went out of their constituencies and campaigned for each other. James Tien also campaigned for the "middle-of-the-road" party Third Side's Tik Chi-yuen who aimed at the last seat in Kowloon West against Yau Wai-ching of the localist group Youngspiration.[55] On 15 August, it was reported that volunteers and staff from Kowloon West New Dynamic chaired by pro-Beijing politician Priscilla Leung helped Tik arrange a meet-the-public event in Sham Shui Po.[56]

In the District Council (Second) constituency, the Democratic Party also asked the supporters of veteran James To who led in the polls to vote for another Democrat candidate Kwong Chun-yu who was fighting for the last seat against Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) candidate Holden Chow.[57] The Democratic Party invited former Chief Secretary Anson Chan to back Kwong, who also endorsed Civic Party's Sumly Chan who ran in the same constituency.[58]

In late August, the pro-Beijing parties also began to campaign for each other. DAB District Council (Second) candidate Holden Chow campaigned for New People's Party (NPP) New Territories East candidate Eunice Yung who was behind in the opinion polls, in exchange for the 24 NPP New Territories district councillors to campaign for Chow. Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) District Council (Second) candidate Wong Kwok-hing also campaigned with Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) Kowloon West candidate Priscilla Leung, the only constituency where the FTU did not field their candidate.[59]

Issues and election forums

Issues including Hong Kong independence, filibustering, universal retirement protection scheme, standard working hours and Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's administration and re-election took central stage at the election forums. Pro-Beijing candidates questioned pan-democrat parties' stance on Hong Kong independence, while localist Kowloon East Community's Chan Chak-to declared his support for independence at the TVB Kowloon East electoral forum despite six pro-independence candidates had been disqualified. Localist candidates exchanged criticisms with the pan-democrats as the pan-democrat candidates dismissed localists' pro-independence call as empty talk.[60]

The pro-Beijing candidates also accused the pan-democrats of their filibustering and obstructionism in the Legislative Council, while pan-democrat candidates attacked the pro-Beijing candidates did not push for a more progressive universal retirement protection scheme and standard working hours policies. The pan-democrats also criticised the pro-Beijing camp being allies of the Leung Chun-ying government and opposed to use Powers and Privileges Ordinance to investigate into Leung's receipt of HK$50 million from UGL Limited and resignations of ICAC heads.

Ken Chow's dropout

On 25 August, Liberal Party’s Ken Chow Wing-kan who ran for New Territories West announced he would stop his electioneering at the Cable TV election forum for fear of "people close to him paying a heavy price". He earlier revealed that he was approached by a middleman to quit the race for a hefty sum of money.[61] Chow passed a voice clip to the media before the election forum, in which a man claimed he would bring 20 to 30 Ho supporters to "pursue" Chow before and after the forum so that he would "lose mood" for the debate. The man in the clip also said the supporters should wear another candidate Lawyer Junius Ho’s vests during the forum.[62] Ho denied having any plans to intimidate Chow and claimed he had rejected one of his supporters' proposal to "pursue" Chow.[63]

Pan-democrat candidates' dropouts

On 2 September less than 48 hours before the election day and after the release of the large-scale opinion poll conducted by University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Programme (HKUPOP) and sponsored by pro-democracy group Power for Democracy, five pro-democrat candidates, independents Paul Zimmerman and Chui Chi-kin in Hong Kong Island, Labour Party's Suzanne Wu in Kowloon East and Civic Party's Sumly Chan and Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood's (ADPL) Kalvin Ho Kai-ming in District Council (Second), suspended their campaigns in the hope of deflecting support to fellow pan-democrats who were seen as standing a better chance.[64] Clarice Cheung Wai-ching, a non-aligned independent also abandoned her campaign in New Territories West and called her supporters to vote for pan-democrat candidates. On 3 September, the third pro-democratic District Council (Second) candidate Kwan Wing-yip also aborted his campaign but marked it as "a dark day for democracy".[65]

Opinion polling

For a more comprehensive list, see Opinion polling for the Hong Kong legislative election, 2016.
  DAB
  PP–LSD
  Civic
  Democratic
  FTU
  Labour
  NPP
  Liberal
  BPA
  CP–PPI–HKRO
  ALLinHK
  Demosistō

The reliability of the rolling poll conducted by the University of Hong Kong Public Opinion Programme (HKUPOP) was widely questioned. The sample size of the poll, fewer than 300 respondents in each of the five geographical constituencies each day, was criticised as being too small. Additionally, pollsters only mentioned the first candidate on the list during interviews which could have made a difference in the results, as many veterans, including Democrats Sin Chung-kai, Albert Ho and Emily Lau, Liberal James Tien, Civic Party's Alan Leong, and People Power Albert Chan, stood in the second place behind the new faces on their party lists while their lists continued to trail behind in the polls.[57] After the complaints, the HKUPOP decided to mention two candidates on the candidate list to respondents from 22 August night onwards.[66]

Results

Before election:

↓
27 1 42
Anti-establishment Pro-establishment

Change in composition:

↓
29 1 40
Anti-establishment Pro-establishment

Template:Hong Kong legislative election, 2016

Votes summary

Votes, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (40.17%)
  Pan-democrats (36.02%)
  Localists (19.00%)
  Other (4.81%)

Seats, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (57.14%)
  Pan-democrats (32.86%)
  Localists (8.57%)
  Other (1.43%)
Popular vote
DAB
 
 16.58%
Civic
 
 9.59%
Democratic
 
 9.22%
FTU
 
 7.83%
NPP
 
 7.72%
PP–LSD
 
 7.20%
CP–PPI–HKRO
 
 7.11%
Labour
 
 4.70%
ALLinHK
 
 3.75%
Demosisto
 
 2.34%
BPA
 
 2.29%
DG
 
 1.76%
ADPL
 
 1.53%
Neo Democrats
 
 1.46%
Liberal
 
 0.99%
NWSC
 
 0.97%
PD
 
 0.84%
Third Side
 
 0.62%
Independent
 
 13.40%

Seats summary

Seat
DAB
 
 17.14%
Democratic
 
 10.00%
BPA
 
 10.00%
Civic
 
 8.57%
FTU
 
 7.14%
Liberal
 
 5.71%
NPP
 
 4.29%
PP–LSD
 
 2.86%
ALLinHK
 
 2.86%
PC
 
 2.86%
CP–PPI–HKRO
 
 1.43%
Labour
 
 1.43%
Demosisto
 
 1.43%
DG
 
 1.43%
NWSC
 
 1.43%
FLU
 
 1.43%
New Forum
 
 1.43%
PTU
 
 1.43%
Independent
 
 17.14%

Results by district

Incumbents defeated

Fifteen incumbents lost re-election.

Party Name Constituency Remarks
ADPL (1) Frederick Fung District Council (Second) Ran in New Territories West.
Civic (1) Alan Leong Kowloon East Stood as second candidate.
DAB (1) Christopher Chung Hong Kong Island Stood as second candidate.
rowspan=3 bgcolor=Template:Democratic Party (Hong Kong)/meta/color | Democratic (3) Albert Ho District Council (Second) Ran in New Territories West; stood as second candidate.
Emily Lau New Territories East Stood as second candidate.
Sin Chung-kai Hong Kong Island Stood as second candidate.
rowspan=2 bgcolor=Template:Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions/meta/color | FTU (2) Tang Ka-piu Labour Ran in New Territories East.
Wong Kwok-hing Hong Kong Island Ran in District Council (Second).
rowspan=2 bgcolor=Template:Labour Party (Hong Kong)/meta/color | Labour (2) Cyd Ho Hong Kong Island
Lee Cheuk-yan New Territories West
Liberal (1) James Tien New Territories East Stood as second candidate.
Neo Democrats (1) Gary Fan New Territories East
People Power (1) Albert Chan New Territories West Stood as second candidate.
PPI (1) Wong Yuk-man Kowloon West
Independent (1) Tony Tse Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape

Outcome

Pro-democrats' results in 18 districts.
Pro-Beijing camp's results in 18 districts.

A record breaking of 2.2 million voters cast their votes, which composed of 58 per cent of the total electorate. Many voters queued outside the polling stations even after polling stations were due to close at 10:30pm and a polling station in Taikoo Shing, the last vote was cast at almost 2:30am.[67] the anti-establishment forces, including the pan-democrats and the localists, won 29 out of 70 seats; managed to retain the majority in the geographical constituencies to block the pro-Beijing camp's attempt to amend the rule of procedures to curb radicals' filibustering and the opposition's crucial one-thirds minority to maintain the veto power on government's constitutional reform proposal.

The localists, six backers of self-determination for Hong Kong, including Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Leung from the post-Occupy group Youngspiration, Occupy student leader Nathan Law of the Demosisto, who became the youngest ever candidate to be elected, Polytechnic University lecturer Lau Siu-lai, Eddie Chu, were returned in the geographical constituencies, securing of nearly 20 per cent of the vote share.[2] Eddie Chu, a social activist and environmentalist, bagged more than 84,000 votes, the highest votes received in the geographical constituencies, without any party backing in New Territories West, leading the first runner-up, New People's Party's Michael Tien by about 13,000 votes. His allies, Nathan Law and Lau Siu-lai also became the pro-democrats which received the highest votes in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon West. The three took a total of 173,122 votes.[68] For the ardently localist faction, Baggio Leung, leader of Youngspiration won in New Territories East after his ally, Hong Kong Indigenous' Edward Leung was barred from poll while Yau Wai-ching won last seat in Kowloon West by about 400 votes at the expense of veteran Wong Yuk-man of the Proletariat Political Institute. Wong's ally, Civic Passion leader Wong Yeung-tat also lost in his second bid in Kowloon East. Only Cheng Chung-tai from the electoral alliance won a seat in the New Territories West.

The pan-democrats saw their big names losing, including Labour Party's Lee Cheuk-yan and Cyd Ho and Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood's (ADPL) Frederick Fung. As a result, ADPL and Neo Democrats were ousted from the legislature while Labour retained only one seat. Benny Tai's ThunderGo plan was blamed as he released on the election day a list of recommended pro-democratic candidates based on pre-polling. It drew the voters to vote for the candidates who were on the brink of losing as shown in the polls from other candidates, which resulted in highest votes received by Eddie Chu, Lau Siu-lai and Nathan Law at other veteran democrats' expenses. Kwong Chun-yu, a Democratic Party young candidate in the District Council (Second) "super seat" who was also tracing behind in the polls received the highest votes of nearly 500,000 votes as a result, while the former "King of Votes", veteran Democrat James To who had led in the polls for weeks faced a tough battle with pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions's (FTU) Wong Kwok-hing for the last of the five "super seats". To secured the third seats for the pan-democrats with a thin margin of 10,694 votes.[69] By putting themselves on the second place in their candidate lists, the veteran Democrats also managed to help their young colleagues to be elected, which made the Democratic Party the largest pro-democratic party again, overtaking the Civic Party. The pro-democrats retained their six out of nine seats in New Territories East, with both radicals democrats, Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats (LSD) and Chan Chi-chuen of the People Power retained their seats despite the overcrowding of the pro-democratic tickets. Leung, who took the last seat in the New Territories East by the margin of only 1,051 votes.

The pan-democrats also boost their functional constituency seats to 10. Besides retaining the pan-democrats' traditional strongholds including Legal and Education, as well as Kenneth Leung's Accountancy and Charles Mok's Information Technology, pan-democrat Edward Yiu made a surprise victory in Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape, defeating incumbent pro-Beijing Tony Tse who became the only incumbent who lost in the functional constituencies. The pro-Beijing camp remained dominant in the functional constituencies. The pro-business Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) dominated in the functional constituencies by retaining six seats as well as Priscilla Leung's seat in Kowloon West. The Liberal Party came second by retaining the four functional constituency despite Joseph Chan's unsuccessful challenge against BPA's Jeffrey Lam in Commercial (First) and Dominic Lee's failed bid in New Territories East. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) maintained its status as the largest party by winning 12 seats in total, one seat fewer than the previous election, while Regina Ip's New People's Party took one extra seat in New Territories East with a young barrister Eunice Yung who was supported by the Liaison Office. Another pro-Beijing candidate supported by the Liaison Office, independent lawyer Junius Ho, also won the last seat in New Territories West against Lee Cheuk-yan.[70]

Candidate lists and results

The nominations received and validated by the Electoral Affairs Commission listed as following:[71] Template:Hong Kong legislative election, 2016 comprehensive

Aftermath

New People's Party chairwoman Regina Ip's car was caught driving out from the Liaison Office few hours after the election. Ip initially told Ming Pao her car was at the Liaison Office because she was sending some books she wrote to her friends there. She later admitted she lied about it as she "was requested by the other party to keep the meeting confidential". She also denied that she went there to thank Beijing for its support in the election.[72] She was criticised as the Liaison Office had been accused for meddling in local politics and elections.

Rosanda Mok of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood and Erica Yuen of the People Power resigned as chairwoman after the parties' election defeats. Gary Fan who lost Neo Democrats' only seat in the legislature also resigned from the party's executive committee. Three Neo Democrats' Sha Tin District Councillors, Yau Man-chun, Billy Chan Shiu-yeung and Sunny Chiu Chu-pong, who campaigned for another pro-democrat Andrew Cheng without the party’s consent were expelled from the party after the election. Fan criticised Cheng, Fan's mentor, for splitting the votes and causing his defeat.[73]

Benny Tai's tactical voting plan ThunderGo was also blamed for causing the losses of the veteran pan-democrats, including Labour Party's Lee Cheuk-yan, as well as Civic Passion's Wong Yeung-tat, in whom the plan advise to drop to make way for League of Social Democrats' Wong Ho-ming and People Power's Tam Tak-chi in New Territories West and Kowloon East respectively. The seats were eventually won by pro-Beijing independents Junius Ho and Paul Tse in those constituencies. Benny Tai said the root of the matter was the fragmenting of the opposition camp, leading to many candidate lists which led to the need for tactical voting.[74]

After the election, nonpartisan Eddie Chu, who was widely known for taking on the Heung Yee Kuk over the its land rights, complained of "imminent" death threats against him and his family. Chu’s campaign drew public attention to the long-time allegations of collusion between the government, business, landlords and triads behind the Wang Chau housing project, which made the government to scale down the housing project from 17,000 flats to only 4,000 due to the pressure from the powerful rural leader Tsang Shu-wo who owned the brownfield land in Wang Chau.[75] He was placed under round-the-clock protection by the police days after the election.[76] The incident escalated into the a major political crisis in the following weeks as the government was questioned over the alleged collusion.

On 8 September, Chan Ho-tin of the Hong Kong National Party (HKNP) who was disqualified from standing in the election challenged the government through an election petition.[77] Edward Leung of Hong Kong Indigenous also filed his legal petition over his disqualification on 7 October.[78] On 13 February 2018, the High Court ruled against Chan Ho-tin on his petition.[79]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c The candidate was not elected as he or she stood as a second candidate on the party list.

References

  1. ^ Progressive Turnout Rate in Geographical Constituencies. Elections.gov.hk. Accessed on 26 September 2017
  2. ^ a b "Rise of localists in Hong Kong polls set to bring headaches for Beijing, analysts say". South China Morning Post. 5 September 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Profiles in victory and defeat: a look at a few notable Legco winners and losers". South China Morning Post. 5 September 2016.
  4. ^ The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (2013). Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive in 2017 and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2016 Consultation Document (PDF). p. 3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  5. ^ "Full text of NPC decision on universal suffrage for HKSAR chief selection". Xinhua News Agency. 31 August 2014. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "'Snitch line' in operation against school boycotters in H.K." GlobalPost. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Hong Kong Students to Boycott Classes If Democracy Demands Aren't Met". The Wall Street Journal. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Ong, Larry (25 March 2015). "Hong Kong's Leader Calls on Voters to Oust the Opposition". Epoch Times.
  9. ^ Chung, Kang-chung (2 March 2016). "All Around Town: So which Hong Kong politician keeps gunning for losing candidate?". South China Morning Post.
  10. ^ a b "本土組織將派5人出選立會 陳雲或出戰新界東". Apple Daily. 29 February 2016.
  11. ^ a b "青年新政等六組織　組聯盟戰立會　倡2021香港自決公投". Stand News. 10 April 2016.
  12. ^ "效法時代力量突圍 香港學運領袖擬組黨參政". Liberty Times. 17 February 2016.
  13. ^ a b "香港眾志成立　羅冠聰、舒琪、黎汶洛出選立會". Stand News. 10 April 2016.
  14. ^ Lam, Jeffie (11 April 2016). "Hong Kong's new pro-democracy groups pose new problems for traditional pan-democrat camp". South China Morning Post.
  15. ^ a b c Ng, Joyce (4 February 2016). "Thunderbolt plan: Benny Tai devises proposal for Hong Kong pan-democrats to win half of legislative seats in September poll". South China Morning Post.
  16. ^ Mok, Danny (3 May 2016). "Will 'Thunderbolt Plan' fizzle? NeoDemocrats won't join proposed pan-dem primary aimed at securing Legco 'super seats'". South China Morning Post.
  17. ^ Ng, Joyce; Cheung, Tony (4 September 2016). "'Strategic' voting scheme has Hong Kong's pan-democrats on the brink". South China Morning Post.
  18. ^ Cheung, Gary (11 May 2016). "HKTV's Ricky Wong plans to run in Legco elections, with CY Leung's exit as key campaign platform". South China Morning Post.
  19. ^ Lam, Jeffie; Cheung, Tony (29 July 2016). "Double trouble for CY Leung? John Tsang announces possible bid for Hong Kong's top job soon after Jasper Tsang does the same". South China Morning Post.
  20. ^ Cheung, Gary; Cheung, Tony (17 June 2016). "Hong Kong pro-establishment candidates could lose votes following bookseller revelations". South China Morning Post.
  21. ^ Buddle, Cliff (12 August 2016). "Ex-ICAC boss sees no political meddling in removal of Hong Kong investigator". South China Morning Post.
  22. ^ Fraser, Niall; Ng, Joyce (12 July 2016). "Turmoil at ICAC after principal investigator becomes second departure in days from Hong Kong graft-buster". South China Morning Post.
  23. ^ Ng, Joyce; Ng, Kang-chung (14 July 2016). "'Accept Hong Kong is part of China or you can't run in Legco elections'". South China Morning Post.
  24. ^ Cheng, Kris (26 July 2016). "Election officials email more pro-independence LegCo candidates asking about political stance". Hong Kong Free Press.
  25. ^ Ng, Joyce (2 August 2016). "Hong Kong Indigenous' Edward Leung disqualified from Legco elections". South China Morning Post.
  26. ^ Cheng, Kris (2 August 2016). "Edward Leung has not genuinely switched from pro-independence stance, says election official". Hong Kong Free Press.
  27. ^ "289 validly nominated candidates for Legislative Council Election". The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 5 August 2016.
  28. ^ "政情 民建聯9月立會參選名單　「四元老」引退　周浩鼎戰超區". HK01. 5 March 2016.
  29. ^ "政情 民建聯落實真‧選舉". Now TV. 4 February 2016.
  30. ^ "民建聯初選 劉國勳得票勝三對手　料接葉國謙棒選立會". HK01. 24 March 2016.
  31. ^ "民建聯拍板派一隊選立會港島 鍾樹根：無奈被棄". Apple Daily. 1 June 2016.
  32. ^ "Christopher Chung mulls leaving DAB to seek re-election". Hong Kong Economic Journal. 2 June 2016.
  33. ^ "李梓敬否認「棄立選換經民聯區選讓路」". Ming Pao. 29 April 2016.
  34. ^ "特稿：自由黨李梓敬戰九西 經民聯批出爾反爾". Wen Wei Po. 28 April 2016.
  35. ^ "立會選舉　田北俊擬戰港島　自由黨或派陳浩濂撼林健鋒". Apple Daily. 24 February 2016.
  36. ^ "新民黨強攻新東　容海恩冀搶一席". Sing Tao Daily. 9 May 2016.
  37. ^ "公民黨公布有意參選立法會名單梁家傑陳家洛無報名". Commercial Radio Hong Kong.
  38. ^ Chung, Kang-chung (3 July 2016). "Civic Party plans to field at least 10 candidates in Hong Kong Legislative Council elections in September". South China Morning Post.
  39. ^ Lam, Jeffie (5 December 2015). "Hong Kong's Democratic Party to vote on pre-election primary proposal". South China Morning Post.
  40. ^ Lam, Jeffie (31 December 2015). "Hong Kong Democratic Party leader Emily Lau decides not to seek re-election in 2016". South China Morning Post.
  41. ^ "Two-front battle: traditional pan-democrats face off against pro-establishment camp and radicals". South China Morning Post. 10 July 2016.
  42. ^ "【立會選舉】工黨擬於五區派人參選　李卓人何秀蘭張超雄尋求連任". HK01. 18 February 2016.
  43. ^ Ng, Kang-chung (14 June 2016). "Radical move: two rival Hong Kong parties unite". South China Morning Post.
  44. ^ "社民連公布立法會選舉初選名單". Cable TV news. 21 February 2016.
  45. ^ a b "范國威「轉軚」 擬選超區議席 當年反政改退民主黨 今稱為開拓本土票源". Ming Pao. 2 March 2016.
  46. ^ "民協何啟明欲選「超級」　嫌民協老鬼唔識講sound bite". HK01. 26 January 2016.
  47. ^ "青年新政：立會選舉不會與本民前撞區出選". Now News. 1 March 2016.
  48. ^ "Localists submit nomination for 'substitute candidate' in LegCo election". Hong Kong Free Press. 29 July 2016.
  49. ^ Tsang, Emily; Cheung, Elizabeth (30 July 2016). "Hong Kong National Party convenor disqualified from running in Legislative Council polls". South China Morning Post.
  50. ^ Cheung, Tony (27 May 2016). "Moderate Hong Kong group Path of Democracy set to field three candidates in Legislative Council elections". South China Morning Post.
  51. ^ Ng, Kang-chung (23 June 2016). "Moderate Hong Kong political groups seek closer co-operation in Legco elections". South China Morning Post.
  52. ^ "政Whats噏： 新思維選舉名單　黃成智慘被飛". Orential Daily. 30 April 2016.
  53. ^ "新思維擬三人戰立會九西直選　狄志遠：正與民主思路協調". HK01. 5 July 2016.
  54. ^ "We quit: 10 members from middle-of-the-road political party Third Side leave due to differences". South China Morning Post. 22 July 2016.
  55. ^ "【拆局】田北俊跨區助刀　建制合力捧狄志遠九西對抗游蕙禎". HK01. 10 August 2016.
  56. ^ Lam, Jeffie (15 August 2016). "Ex-Democrat accused of having links with Hong Kong establishment figures". South China Morning Post.
  57. ^ a b Lam, Jeffie (12 August 2016). "Democratic Party losses may mean Hongkongers have lost faith in moderate path, says former chairman". South China Morning Post.
  58. ^ Lam, Jeffie (26 August 2016). "Election Notebook: the party fledglings who still need the support of 'parents'". South China Morning Post.
  59. ^ "【拆局】周浩鼎為容海恩站台　分析指反映民建聯新東已夠票". HK01. 21 August 2016.
  60. ^ "Independence talk takes centre stage at Legco electoral forums". 15 August 2016.
  61. ^ Lam, Jeffie; Ng, Joyce (26 August 2016). "Election bombshell: threats and attempted bribery alleged as Hong Kong's New Territories West Legco candidate drops out of poll race". South China Morning Post.
  62. ^ Ng, Joyce (26 August 2016). "Legco contender Junius Ho distances himself from supporters' plans to 'pursue' rival, claims he was smeared". South China Morning Post.
  63. ^ Ng, Joyce; Fung, Owen (26 August 2016). "Hong Kong's Legco candidate Ken Chow urged to come clean on 'threats'". South China Morning Post.
  64. ^ Lau, Stuart (2 September 2016). "Five pan-democrats throw in the towel ahead of Hong Kong's Legislative Council elections". South China Morning Post.
  65. ^ Lau, Stuart; Lee, Danny (3 September 2016). "Opponents allege collusion after pan-democrat candidates abandon Hong Kong Legco runs". South China Morning Post.
  66. ^ Lam, Jeffie; Ng, Joyce (22 August 2016). "Hong Kong election pollsters in U-turn on methodology after complaints by parties". South China Morning Post.
  67. ^ "Record Hong Kong turnout for bitterly fought Legislative Council polls". South China Morning Post. 5 September 2016.
  68. ^ "Peaceful Hong Kong localists triumph over militants in Legislative Council elections". South China Morning Post. 5 September 2016.
  69. ^ "Hong Kong's 'King of Votes' in 2012 election scrapes home this time after tactical ploy almost misfires". South China Morning Post. 5 September 2016.
  70. ^ "【立會選戰】新舊「契仔契女」全入局　西環完成地區直選全壘打". HK01. 5 September 2016.
  71. ^ "Nomination of Candidates". Electoral Affairs Commission.
  72. ^ Lau, Stuart (9 September 2016). "Regina Ip admits she lied about Beijing liaison office visit". South China Morning Post.
  73. ^ Mok, Danny (6 September 2016). "NeoDemocrats in crisis: three members quit over campaigning for non-party Legco candidate". South China Morning Post.
  74. ^ Yuen, Chantal (7 September 2016). "Tactical voting convenor Benny Tai says he 'underestimated' the situation after misses in LegCo".
  75. ^ "Tough questions for all those involved in Hong Kong's Wang Chau housing saga". South China Morning Post. 20 September 2016.
  76. ^ "Afraid to go home since election day, 'king of votes' Eddie Chu gets round-the-clock police protection over death threat". South China Morning Post. 8 September 2016.
  77. ^ Siu, Jasmine (9 September 2016). "Disqualified Legco candidate files petition with High Court asking if New Territories West lawmakers were duly elected". South China Morning Post.
  78. ^ "Hong Kong independence advocate Edward Leung files legal petition over Legco elections ban". South China Morning Post. 7 October 2016.
  79. ^ "陳浩天呈請敗訴　陳弘毅料有機會上訴至終院". 東方日報. 13 February 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hong Kong legislative election, 2016.

Official websites

Manifestos and platforms

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2016_Hong_Kong_legislative_election&oldid=855299905"