1991 Hong Kong legislative election

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1991 Hong Kong legislative election
Flag of Hong Kong 1959.svg
  1988 12 & 15 September 1991 1995  

39 (of the 60) seats to the Legislative Council
31 seats needed for a majority
Registered1,916,925 (GC)
Turnout750,467 (39.15%)
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Martin Lee 2014 cut.jpg Anthony Cheung Bing-leung.JPG
Leader Martin Lee Hu Fa-kuang Anthony Cheung
Party United Democrats LDF Meeting Point
Alliance Pro-democracy Conservative Pro-democracy
Leader's seat Hong Kong Island East Appointed
(before election)
Did not stand
Seats won1432
Seat changeIncrease2.svg12Decrease2.svg3Increase2.svg2
Popular vote618,20970,69798,588
Percentage45.15%5.16%7.20%

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  Chan Yat-sen.jpg Leong Che-hung 2015.jpg Vincent Lo Hong-shui 2021.png
Leader Chan Yat-sen Leong Che-hung Vincent Lo
Party FSHK HKDF BPF
Alliance Conservative Pro-democracy Conservative
Leader's seatDid not stand Medical Did not stand
Seats won222
Seat changeDecrease2.svg2Decrease2.svg1Increase2.svg1
Popular vote30,87119,806N/A
Percentage2.25%1.45%N/A

 Seventh partyEighth partyNinth party
  Frederick Fung at Alliance for True Democracy.jpg Lo Tak-shing.jpg
Leader Frederick Fung Lee Chark-tim Lo Tak-shing
Party ADPL FTU NHKA
Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing
Leader's seat Kowloon West Did not standDid not stand
Seats won111
Seat changeSteady2.svgSteady2.svgIncrease2.svg1
Popular vote60,77044,89411,934
Percentage4.44%3.28%0.87%

LegCoElection1991.svg
Elected candidates by each constituency

The 1991 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held for members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). The election of the members of functional constituencies was held on 12 September 1991 and the election of geographical constituency seats was held on 15 September respectively. It was the first ever direct election of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong history. There were 18 members from directly elected geographical constituencies, 21 members from functional constituencies, 17 members appointed by the Governor, and 3 official members.

Contents

A coalition of the United Democrats and the Meeting Point, together with other smaller parties, groups and independents in the pro-democracy camp had a landslide victory, getting 16 of the 18 geographical constituency seats. Two-seat constituency two vote system was used with two seats to be filled in each constituency. The voting system helped the pro-democracy coalition win with landslide success and faced criticisms. In the end, the government prescribed simple plurality in the next election.

Background

After the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in December 1984 stated the sovereignty of Hong Kong would be transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, the pace of the democratisation towards a government of high autonomy towards 1997 became a major political debate. The Hong Kong government denied the demand of the pro-democracy groups of introducing direct elections in the 1988 Legislative Council elections, due to the main opposition from Beijing and the conservative business and professional elites. As a result, the electoral methods of the functional constituencies being elected by different business and professional sectors and the Electoral Colleges being elected by the District Boards and the two municipal councils (Urban Council and Regional Council) remained in the 1988 elections but it was promised by the government that direct elections would be introduced in the 1991 elections.

Overview

The Hong Kong government's assumed the two-seat constituencies would produce a mixture of liberal, rural conservative and business representatives as well as some members of the "United Front" organisations which supported by Beijing, as the voters would cast their ballots for prominent individuals rather than a "party" label. [1] However, the two-seat and two-vote system benefited the pro-democracy coalition in the end.

The election was largely affected by the events in May and June 1989 in China when the Tiananmen Square protest was bloodily cracked down by the Beijing government. The events sparked the great fear among the Hong Kong population who closely concerned or enthusiastically supported the student movement. The pro-democracy groups supported the student protests by forming the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China in May 1989. After the crackdown, the liberal leaders, Martin Lee and Szeto Wah had been labelled as "subversives" by the Beijing government and expelled form the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee. In 1990, members of the three major pro-democracy groups, the Meeting Point, the Hong Kong Affairs Society and the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood came together under the banner of the United Democrats of Hong Kong, which self-proclaimed as the first political party in Hong Kong.

The pro-democracy liberals won a landslide in the geographical constituency direct elections. The United Democrats led by Martin Lee became the largest party, by winning 12 of the 18 seats in the geographical constituencies. Two other seats went to its ally Meeting Point headed by Anthony Cheung. Frederick Fung, Chairman of the ADPL won a seat in Kowloon West. Of the remaining seats, one went to a liberal independent Emily Lau, one to an independent incumbent Andrew Wong and the other to an incumbent rural conservative Tai Chin-wah. [1]

The conservative Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong, newly founded in 1990 mainly by business and professional groups favouring collaboration with Beijing, polled only 5.1% of the vote. None of its candidates were elected in the direct elections. The pro-Beijing "united front" organisations received only 7.9% of the vote and were also very easily defeated. Chan Yuen-han, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) candidate in Kowloon Central polled about 11,000 votes fewer than the second place United Democrat, Dr. Conrad Lam and was about 23,000 votes behind the winner, United Democrat Lau Chin-shek. In Island East, Cheng Kai-nam who had the support of a pro-Beijing group, Hong Kong Citizen Forum, polled 29,902 against the United Democrats' leader Martin Lee, who received 76,831 votes. [1]

The advantage of the liberals was balanced with the functional constituency indirectly elected by the limited electorates of the business and professional sectors as well as the appointed members by the government. the Chief Secretary Sir David Ford said on television that the elections should be seen in the context of a 50% registration rate, of whom perhaps only 50% might turn out at the polls therefore the majority who were not represented would be reserved by appointing members who might be thought to represent those who had not registered or had not voted. [1]

General results

Overall Summary of the 12 & 15 September 1991 Legislative Council of Hong Kong election results
Political affiliationGeographical constituenciesFunctional constituenciesTotal
seats
Votes%CandidatesSeatsVotes%CandidatesSeats
United Democrats of Hong Kong 618,20945.15141215,20866.463214
Meeting Point 98,5887.20322
Hong Kong Democratic Foundation 19,8061.45104872.13222
Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood 60,7704.44311
Independents and others46,5153.40111
Total for Liberals843,88861.63221615,69568.595420
Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong 69,8325.10501,1184.89533
Business and Professionals Federation of Hong Kong 9684.23322
Federation for the Stability of Hong Kong 30,8712.2511100.04212
Total for Conservatives100,7037.35612,0969.161067
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions 44,8943.2810111
New Hong Kong Alliance 11,9340.87201360.59211
Hong Kong Citizen Forum 29,9022.18100
Kwun Tong Man Chung Friendship Promotion Association 21,2251.55100
Total for pro-Beijing107,9557.88501360.59322
Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council 3,3930.2510111
Hong Kong Civic Association 14,1451.03100
Reform Club of Hong Kong 8,2570.60100
October Review 3,4310.25100
Independents and others287,56121.001714,95721.662189
Total (turnout 39.15%)1,369,333100.00541822,884100.00402139

Note: There were also 18 members appointed by the Governor and 3 Ex-Officio members.

Votes summary

Popular vote
UD
45.15%
Meeting Point
7.20%
LDF
5.16%
ADPL
4.44%
FTU
3.28%
FSHK
2.25%
PHKS
2.20%
CF
2.18%
KCMCFPA
1.55%
DF
1.45%
Civic
1.03%
NHKA
0.87%
Reform
0.60%
TUC
0.25%
OR
0.25%
Independent
24.40%

Seats summary

Seats
UD
35.90%
LDF
7.69%
Meeting Point
5.13%
FSHK
5.13%
DF
5.13%
BPF
5.13%
ADPL
2.64%
FTU
2.64%
NHKA
2.64%
TUC
2.64%
Independent
20.51%

Result breakdown

Geographical Constituencies

ConstituencyCandidatesAffiliationVotes %
Hong Kong Island East Martin Lee Chu-ming United Democrats 76,83174.6
Man Sai-cheong United Democrats 43,61542.3
Cheng Kai-nam Citizen Forum 29,90229.0
Chan Ying-lun HKDF 19,80619.2
Diana Leung Wai-tung Independent 15,23014.8
Jennifer Chow Kit-bing Independent 5,8055.6
Hong Kong Island West Yeung Sum United Democrats 45,10865.4
Huang Chen-ya United Democrats 31,05245.0
David Chan Yuk-cheung Independent 29,41342.6
Alexander Chang Yau-hung LDF 12,14517.6
Ronnie Wong Man-chiu NHKA 6,1138.9
Winnie Cheung Wai-sun NHKA 5,8218.4
Kowloon East Szeto Wah United Democrats 57,921 70.3
Li Wah-ming Meeting Point 49,64360.2
Hau Shui-pui KTMCA 21,22525.8
Poon Chi-fai Independent 16,62520.2
Chan Cheong October Review 3,4314.2
Li Ting-kit TUC 3,3934.1
Philip Li Koi-hop Nonpartisan (LDF)8651.0
Kowloon Central Lau Chin-shek United Democrats 68,48962.2
Conrad Lam Kui-shing United Democrats 56,08451.0
Chan Yuen-han FTU 44,89440.8
Peter Chan Chi-kwan Civic 14,14512.9
Cecilia Yeung Lai-yin Reform 8,2577.5
John Dragon Young Independent (HKAS/UDHK)6,2735.7
Justin Cheung Chung-ming Independent 2,1582.0
Kowloon West Frederick Fung Kin-kee ADPL 36,50852.5
James To Kun-sun United Democrats 26,35237.9
Desmond Lee Yu-tai Independent (HKCA/UDHK)21,47130.9
Kingsley Sit Ho-yin Independent 18,63426.8
Law Cheung-kwok ADPL 17,14524.7
Ng Kin-sun LDF 6,0988.8
New Territories East Emily Lau Wai-hing Independent 46,51548.1
Andrew Wong Wang-fat Independent 39,80641.2
Tony Kan Chung-nin Independent 37,12638.4
Lau Kong-wah United Democrats 26,65927.6
Johnston Wong Hong-chung United Democrats 26,15627.1
Choi Man-hing Independent 3480.4
Eric Leung Ka-ching Independent 3060.3
New Territories South Lee Wing-tat United Democrats 52,19256.9
Albert Chan Wai-yip United Democrats 42,16445.9
Leung Yiu-chung Independent (NWSC)38,56842.0
Yeung Fuk-kwong Independent (PHKS)30,09532.8
New Territories West Ng Ming-yum United Democrats 42,31951.9
Tai Chin-wah FSHK 30,87137.9
Zachary Wong Wai-yin Meeting Point 27,24333.4
Tang Siu-tong Independent 23,38928.7
Tso Shiu-wai LDF 20,01824.6
New Territories North Fung Chi-wood United Democrats 23,26749.9
Tik Chi-yuen Meeting Point 21,70246.5
Cheung Hon-chung LDF 16,22134.8
Johnny Wong Chi-keung LDF 15,35032.9
Ronald Chow Mei-tak ADPL 7,11715.3
Tong Wai-man Independent 1,4493.1

Functional Constituencies

ConstituencyCandidatesAffiliationVotes %
First Commercial James David McGregor HKDF 48753.9
Paul Cheng Ming-fun BPF 41646.1
Second Commercial Philip Wong Yu-hong NHKA Uncontested
First Industrial Stephen Cheong Kam-chuen BPF Uncontested
Second Industrial Ngai Shiu-kit LDF 21656.5
Szeto Fai Independent 16643.5
Engineering Samuel Wong Ping-wai Independent 1,33489.8
Hogan Tang Ka-fat Independent 15110.2
Architectural, Surveying
and Planning
Edward Ho Sing-tin BPF 55253.7
Francis Lau Shiu-kwan LDF 24623.9
Kan Fook-yee NHKA 13613.2
Charles Nicholas Brooke Independent 949.1
Real Estate and Construction Ronald Joseph Arculli Independent Uncontested
Teaching Cheung Man-kwong United Democrats 15,19389.8
Ho King-on Independent 8865.2
Walter Wou Tchong-hong Independent 8364.9
Tourism Howard Young LDF 33840.7
Harold Wu Tan LDF 31838.3
Ronnie Yuen Ka-chai Independent 17521.1
Accountancy Peter Wong Hong-yuen LDF Uncontested
Legal Simon Ip Sik-on Independent 54277.4
John William Miller Independent 15822.6
Social Services Hui Yin-fat Independent Uncontested
Health Care Michael Ho Mun-ka United Democrats Uncontested
Medical Leong Che-hung HKDF Uncontested
Finance David Li Kwok-po Independent Uncontested
Financial Services Chim Pui-chung Independent 28147.6
Alex Wong Po-hang Independent 20033.9
Cham Yau-tong Independent 5910.0
Peter Chan Po-fun Independent 366.1
Chum Ting-pong Independent 91.5
Wong Wun-wing Independent 50.8
Labour (2 seats) Pang Chun-hoi TUC Uncontested
Tam Yiu-chung FTU Uncontested
Urban Council Elsie Tu Independent Uncontested
Regional Council Gilbert Leung Kam-ho Independent 2040.0
Chow Yick-hay United Democrats 1530.0
Lam Wai-keung FSHK 1020.0
Chau Chun-wing Independent 510.0
Rural Lau Wong-fat FSHK Uncontested

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Scott, Ian (1991). "An Overview of the Hong Kong Legislative Council Elections of 1991" (PDF). Asian Journal of Public Administration. 13 (2): 11–37. doi:10.1080/02598272.1991.10800247.

Bibliography