The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.
James Tien Pei-chun, GBS, OBE, JP is the former Chairman and Leader of the Liberal Party (LP) and former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco). Coming from the background of an entrepreneur, he was also a non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong (Exco), member of Central and Western and Kwai Tsing District Council and Hong Kong member to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
The Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) was the interim legislature of Hong Kong that operated from 1997 to 1998. The legislature was founded in Guangzhou and sat in Shenzhen from 1996 until the handover in 1997 and moved to Hong Kong to serve as the temporary replacement of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It was established by the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by resolution at its Second Plenary Session on 24 March 1996. The 60 members of the PLC were elected on 21 December 1996 by the 400-member Selection Committee for the First Government of the HKSAR, which also elected the first Chief Executive. The official start date for this council was on 25 January 1997.
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. Every four years, half of the unicameral Legislative Council of Hong Kong's seventy seats representing the geographical constituencies are returned by the electorate; the other thirty five seats representing the functional constituencies are elected through smaller closed elections within business sectors.
The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE). 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. It had 1,200 members for the 2017 election. The Election Committee has been criticised for its "small-circle" electoral basis and its composition favouring pro-Beijing and business interests.
The 2005 Hong Kong Chief Executive election was held to fill the vacancy of the territory's top office. Then Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa submitted his resignation to the central government in Beijing, and was officially approved on 12 March. As Donald Tsang, Chief Secretary for Administration in Tung's cabinet, was the only candidate, he was declared elected unopposed on 16 June. Tsang took office on 21 June to begin his first two-year term.
The 1998 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 24 May 1998 for members of the 1st Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in 1997. Replacing the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) strictly controlled by the Beijing government and boycotted by the pro-democracy camp, the elections returned 20 members from directly elected geographical constituencies, 10 seats from the Election Committee constituency and 30 members from functional constituencies, of which 10 were uncontested.
The 2011 Election Committee subsector elections took place between 7:30 am and 10:30 pm on 11 December 2011. The Election Committee sub-sector elections are a part of the contemporary political process of Hong Kong. The election's purpose is to decide the 1,044 members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong. The resulting Election Committee is then responsible for electing the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) in the 2012 Election.
The 2006 Election Committee subsector elections were held from 7.30 am to 10.30 pm on 10 December 2006 in order to elect 664 members of Election Committee. The Election Committee was responsible for electing the Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive in 2007 Chief Executive Election.
Election Committee (ECC) was a former constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
The 2000 Election Committee subsector elections were held on 9 July 2000 to elect 664 members of Election Committee. The Election Committee was responsible for electing the Legislative Council members of the Election Committee constituency, as well as the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in the following 2002 Chief Executive election.
The 2005 Election Committee subsector by-elections were held on 1 May 2005 to fill the 33 vacancies in 17 subsectors of the Election Committee for electing the Hong Kong Chief Executive in the Chief Executive election in following March.
Thomas Pang Cheung-wai, SBS, JP is the current vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the largest pro-Beijing party in Hong Kong.
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.
Jimmy Ng Wing-ka, JP is a solicitor and businessman in Hong Kong. He is the vice-president of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong (CMAHK). In the 2016 Legislative Council election, Ng ran unopposed in the CMAHK's Industrial (Second) functional constituency, succeeding Lam Tai-fai in the seat.
Edward Lau Kwok-fan, MH is a Hong Kong politician. He is the member of the executive committee of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and former member of the North District Council, representing Yan Shing until 2019. In the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election, he succeeded DAB veteran legislator Ip Kwok-him in the District Council (First) functional constituency to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
The election for the Hong Kong deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) was held on 19 December 2017. 36 Hong Kong deputies were elected by an electoral college composed of 1,989 members.
The 2021 Hong Kong Legislative Council election is scheduled in December 2021 for the 7th Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). Under the new framework imposed by by the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), the electoral system was drastically changed. The total number of the Legislative Council seats would be increased from 70 to 90 seats, 20 of which are from the directly elected geographical constituencies (GCs), which were scrapped from 35; 30 seats remain from the trade-based indirectly elected functional constituencies (FCs); while an extra number of 40 seats will be elected by the Election Committee.
The Decision of the National People's Congress on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was enacted on 11 March 2021 by the National People's Congress (NPC), the sole legislative body of the People's Republic of China (PRC), to rewrite the electoral rules, imposing a much restrictive electoral system on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for its Chief Executive (CE) and the Legislative Council (LegCo), claiming to ensure a system of "patriots governing Hong Kong."
