The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the domestic unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's "one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong's hybrid representative democracy.
The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) is a pro-Beijing labour and political group established in 1948 in Hong Kong. It is the oldest and largest labour group in Hong Kong with over 420,000 members in 253 affiliates and associated trade unions. Presided by Ng Chau-pei and chaired by Kingsley Wong, it currently holds four seats in the Legislative Council and five seats in the District Councils.
In the political systems of Hong Kong, a functional constituency is a professional or special interest group involved in the electoral process. Eligible voters in a functional constituency may include natural persons as well as other designated legal entities such as organisations and corporations.
Elections in Hong Kong take place when certain political offices in the government need to be filled. Hong Kong has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in the Legislative Council. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong is nonpartisan, but has to work with several parties to form a coalition government.
Legislative elections are held in Hong Kong every four years Legislative Council (LegCo) in accordance with Article 69 of the Basic Law. Legislative elections are be held either at the expiry of a four-year term or when the Chief Executive dissolves the legislature and calls a new election.
The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE) and beginning in 2021 to elect 40 members of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong which states that "the Chief Executive shall be elected by a broadly representative Election Committee in accordance with this Law and appointed by the Central People's Government ." It is formed and performs its selection function once every five years, even in the event of a CE not completing their term. The membership of the Election Committee was expanded to 1,500 under the massive overhaul of the electoral system in 2021. The Election Committee has been criticised for its "small-circle" electoral basis and its composition favouring pro-Beijing and business interests.
In Hong Kong, geographical constituencies, as opposed to functional constituencies, are elected by all eligible voters according to geographically demarcated constituencies. There are currently 5 geographical constituencies in Hong Kong, returning 35 members to the Legislative Council. Following the 2021 electoral reforms passed by the Standing Committee of the mainland National People's Congress, the number of members returned by geographical constituencies would be lowered to 20, while the total number of seats in the Legislative Council would be increased to 90.
Mandy Tam Heung-man is a Hong Kong politician, tax advisor and newspaper columnist who is currently a member of the Wong Tai Sin District Council, representing Lung Sing. She is also a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, having represented the Accountancy functional constituency. Tam's columns have appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal and other publications.
The 2012 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 9 September 2012 for the 5th Legislative Council (LegCo) since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
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.
The Legal functional constituency is a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It was the one of the first 12 original functional constituency seats created for the first ever Legislative Council election in 1985.
The Commercial (First) functional constituency is a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong first created in 1985. The constituency is composed of corporate members of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) that are entitled to vote at general meetings of the Chamber.
The Accountancy functional constituency is a functional constituency seat in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong first created for the 1988 Legislative Council election, derived from the Financial functional constituency. In 2020, the constituency was composed of some 25,000 certified public accountants (CPAs) as compared to 222,000 citizens on average for the geographical constituencies.
The Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency is a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It was first created in 1985 as Engineering, Architectural, Surveying and Planning for the first ever Legislative Council election in 1985 as one of the original 12 functional constituency seats. The constituency was divided into Engineering and Architectural, Surveying and Planning in 1991. In the 2016 election, the constituency was changed to its current name when the landscape architects were added to the electorates.
The Tourism functional constituency is a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong first created in 1998.
The Wholesale and Retail functional constituency is a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong first created in 1995 as one of the nine new functional constituencies under the electoral reform carried out by the then Governor Chris Patten, in which the electorate consisted of total 101,988 eligible voters worked related to the wholesale and retail industry.
The Catering functional constituency is a functional constituency is in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It was created for the 2000 Legislative Council election to replace the Urban Council and Regional Council constituencies. The constituency is composed of bodies of several catering associations. It is also corresponding to the Catering Subsector in the Election Committee. Since its creation, it has been held by Liberal Party's Tommy Cheung.
The 1988 Hong Kong electoral reform was carried out by the colonial government during 1987 to 1988 as the second stage of the developments of the representative government. Direct elections to the Legislative Council became the most debated issue during the public consultations. Under the strong opposition from the Government of the People's Republic of China, the Hong Kong government consequently turned down the option of the 1988 direct elections and introduced a little change in the government system.
Nelson Wong Sing-chi is a Hong Kong politician and social worker. He had been member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong between 2000–04 and 2008–12. He was the founding member of the Democratic Party before he was expelled in 2015 for his support in the government's constitutional reform proposals. He was also briefly a founding member of the Third Side, a centrist political party.
The 2016 Election Committee subsector elections were held on 11 December 2016 for 1,034 of the 1,200 members of the Election Committee (EC) which is responsible for electing the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (CE) in the 2017 election.
