1999 Hong Kong local elections

28 November 1999
All Elected Constituencies 390 (of the 519) seats in all 18 Districts Councils
Registered	2,832,524 15.60%
Turnout	816,503 (35.82%) 2.71pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Martin Lee Tsang Yok-sing Frederick Fung Party Democratic DAB ADPL Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy Last election 75 seats, 23.01% 37 seats, 11.82% 29 seats, 6.95% Seats won 86 83 19 Seat change 13 27 1 Popular vote 201,461 190,792 38,119 Percentage 24.85% 23.53% 4.70% Swing 1.69pp 11.82pp 2.25pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ambrose Lau James Tien Lau Kong-wah Party HKPA Liberal Civil Force Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Last election 12 seats, 4.19% 18 seats, 7.39% 10 seats, 1.77% Seats won 16 15 11 Seat change 1 2 2 Popular vote 23,168 27,718 19,633 Percentage 2.86% 3.42% 2.42% Swing 1.33pp 3.98pp 0.65pp   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Yum Sin-ling Emily Lau Leung Yiu-chung Party 123DA Frontier NWSC Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-democracy Pro-democracy Last election 5 seats, 2.01% New party 1 seat, 0.13% Seats won 6 4 2 Seat change 1 Popular vote 11,396 9,388 3,295 Percentage 1.41% 1.16% 0.41% Swing 0.60pp N/A 0.28pp
Map of the winning party by constituency

The 1999 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 28 November 1999 for all 18 districts of Hong Kong, for 390 members from directly elected constituencies out of total 519 council members. It was the first District Council election after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, replacing the existing Provisional District Councils appointed by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

The pro-Beijing camp scored fairly well in the election, with the flagship pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), improved its performance in catching up with the Democratic Party, the largest pro-democracy party. The Democratic Party sustained its political momentum by securing 24.9 per cent of the votes as compared to 22.8 per cent in 1994. The DAB and the Democratic Party became the largest parties in the District Councils, while DAB captured 83 seats out of 176 candidates, the Democratic Party captured 86 out of 173 candidates. The pro-grassroots pro-democracy party, the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), appeared to lose some popular support from 7 per cent of the total vote in 1994 to 4.7 per cent in 1999.

Overall, the pro-democracy forces failed to enhance their influence and outperform the pro-Beijing camp.^[1] After the election, Tung Chee-hwa reintroduced appointed members to the District Councils, appointing 102 pro-government members to prevent the pro-democracy camp from dominating the councils.

Overview

In comparison to the 1994 District Board elections, the pro-Beijing camp improved their performance and closed the gap with the pro-democracy camp. Although the Democratic Party maintained its share of votes, its success rate decline slightly due to the fct the party nominated far more candidates than it had in the 1994 elections. The Democratic Party contested directly with the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the pro-Beijing party, in 96 constituencies, of which 54 were won by the Democrats, 36 by the DAB contenders and 6 by other candidates. Incumbents changing their constituencies such as Stanley Ng Wing-fai in Yau Tsim Mong District and Shirley Ho Suk-ping in the Sha Tin District were defeated by the pro-Beijing candidates.^[1]

Other pro-democracy parties such as the 123 Democratic Alliance and the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) failed to achieve any breakthrough in elections. The 123 Democratic Alliance increased both its success rate and the number of candidates, but only winning 6 seats. It remained a small party and was eventually dissolved in 2000 due to the lack of financial support from the Taiwan government. The ADPL filled less candidates partly due to some ADPL defecting to the Democratic Party in 1997 after the internal dispute over the question of joining the Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council. The ADPL failed to penetrate into other districts apart from its political base at Shamshuipo. The Frontier and the Citizens Party remained uninterested in the local elections, with the Frontier nominated only 9 candidates to compete in Sha Tin and Eastern districts, of which 4 of them were elected. The Citizens Party had only Chan Tim-shing elected in the Eastern District.^[1]

The pro-Beijing camp relied on the DAB to counter the pro-democracy forces. The DAB drastically increased its numbers of candidates from 83 in 1994 to 176 in 1999. Its success rate also rose from 44.6 per cent to 47.2 per cent, contributed by the strong grassroots work of the DAB candidates. The pro-business Liberal Party improved its performance by lower its candidates form 89 to 34, with success rate rising from 20.2 to 44.1 per cent. The Liberal Party recruited some candidates with strong grassroots networks prior the elections to compensate its weakness in district works. The party leaders, such as Chairman James Tien Pei-chun, legislators Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee and Howard Young also contested in the elections, though Chow was defeated.^[1] The Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (PA) strategically merged with the Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong (LDF), nominating fewer candidates and improving its performance by winning 16 as compared to 12 in 1994. The stronghold of PA remained in the Kowloon City District, with the expansion of its influence to Sai Kung and Sha Tin districts. The Shatin-based Civil Force slightly increased its number of seats but saw a decline in its success rate.^[1]

Results

General outcome

Summary of the 28 November 1999 District Councils of Hong Kong election results

Political Affiliation			Popular vote	%	%±	Standing	Elected	±
		Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong	190,792	23.53	11.82	176	83	27
		Hong Kong Progressive Alliance	23,168	2.86	1.33	25	16	1
		Liberal Party	27,718	3.42	3.98	34	15	3
		Civil Force	19,633	2.42	0.65	14	11	2
		Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions	1,074	0.13	-	1	1	1
		New Territories Heung Yee Kuk	942	0.12	-	1	1	0
		Hong Kong Chinese Reform Association	-	-	-	1	1	0
		Independent and others	177,774	21.92	-	180	104	4
Total for pro-Beijing camp			443,441	54.69	-	436	232	22
		Democratic Party	201,461	24.85	1.69	173	86	13
		Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood	38,119	4.70	2.25	32	19	1
		123 Democratic Alliance	11,396	1.41	0.60	10	6	0
		Frontier	9,388	1.16	-	9	4	1
		Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre	3,295	0.41	-	3	2	0
		Citizens Party	2,072	0.26	-	1	1	0
		Hong Kong Democratic Foundation	1,392	0.17	0.42	1	1	0
		Independent democrats	58,706	7.24	-	54	38	7
Total for pro-democracy camp			325,829	40.18	-	283	157	22
Independent and others			41,593	5.13	-	79	1	0
Total (turnout 35.82%)			810,863	100.0	-	798	390	44

Note1: The total seats of the District Councils are 519 including 27 ex-officio members (Rural Committee Chairmen in the New Territories), and 102 members appointed members by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
Note2: Councilor Lau Kong-wah who ran under both DAB and Civil Force banners is counted as a DAB member in this chart.

Aftermath

Tung Chee-hwa appointed 102 members to the District Council after the election to prevent the pro-democracy camp from dominating the District Councils. These included 41 from various political parties, namely the Liberal Party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance. There were no democrats appointed. The pro-democrats thus lost their domination of the Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin and Yau Tsim Mong District Councils where the pro-democrats had 15, 11 and 6 directly elected seats while pro-Beijing camp gained 15, 10 and 6 seats and 18, 14 and 8 seats after the appointments respectively.^[1]

References