Moderate groups

Last updated
Centrist camp
中間派
Ideology Centrism
Nonpartisanism
Factions:
Liberalism (HK)
Conservatism (HK)
Political position Big tent
Legislative Council
1 / 90 (1%)
District Councils
4 / 470 (0.9%)
Election Committee
1 / 1,500 (0.07%)

The moderate groups, [1] centrist camp, or moderate camp is Hong Kong's moderate political alignment.

Contents

Political position

The moderate groups represents a moderate view between the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps. However, depending on the political party, it may be partly closer to the pro-Beijing or pro-democracy.

Although they are not actively pro-government at the level of the pro-Beijing camp, the moderate groups is people interact with the mainland Chinese government, unlike the pro-democracy camp; Ronny Tong on the Path of Democracy entered the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Chow Yick Hay (周奕希) on the Third Side is a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference member based on Zhaoqing, [2] , Chow also became vice-chairman of the Kwai Tsing District Council with the help of the pro-Beijing camp, Wong Sing-chi on the Third Side was appointed by the government to be a member of the Hong Kong Housing Authority, and even Christine Fong is partly related to pro-Beijing organizations. [3]

History

Political events such as the Umbrella Movement and Waiting for Uncle Fat led to social differentiation; the pro-democracy camp was divided and some formed the localist camp.

In 2015, Ronny Tong, a member of the Civic Party, left the Civic Party and resigned as a member of the Legislative Council, advocated political reform, and formed a centrist organization, 'Path of Democracy'. Around the same time, former Legislative Council member Tik Chi-yuen of the Democratic Party bolted from the party and formed the 'Third Side' with Wong Sing-chi, another former Legislative Council member who was expelled from the Democratic Party.

A 2015 poll by The University of Hong Kong found that 41.9% of moderate groups supporters, 28.4% of pro-democracy camp supporters, and 11.4% of pro-Beijing camp supporters. [4]

Christine Fong and Wong Sing-chi, classified as moderate groups in the 2016 New Territories East by-election, lost to Alvin Yeung, classified as pro-democracy camp. At the time, Christine Fong received 33,424 votes, while Wong Singh-chi received 17,257 votes; in New Territories, moderate groups received about 12%.

Third Side chairman Tik Chi-yuen claims that voters abandoned the centrist line and voted for a pro-Beijing camp because of the 'Returning to the Edge Effect' (歸邊效應) in the election. He analyzed that the moderate groups is likely to win 1 seat in the New Territories if it works with politicians who belong to the moderate groups at the 2016 Hong Kong legislative election. [5]

In the 2016 Hong Kong legislative election; Wong Singh-chi bolted from the Third Side and ran for the Social Welfare functional constitution, Tik Chi-yuen ran for the Kowloon West, Christine Fong was eliminated from 10th place with 34,544 votes in the eastern district of New Territories, [6] the Path of Democracy sent two lists to Hong Kong Island and the eastern part of the New Territories and losing with 10,028 and 8,084 votes (respectively, which was a very small number of votes, resulting in the confiscation of the election deposit).

On 1 July 2017, Ronny Tong joined the Executive Council of Hong Kong composition.

In January 2018, the pro-democracy camp decided to hold a primary election to select candidates for the March 2018 Hong Kong by-elections, and Frederick Fung, who was still a member of Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) at that time, became a preliminary candidate ("Plan B"), but the pro-democracy camp persuaded Frederick Fung to give up his position as "Plan B". Under the pressure of various parties, Frederick Fung announced that he would give up his position, and at the same time, it sowed the seeds of Frederick Fung's defection from the pro-democracy camp.

In July 2018, Frederick Fung withdrew from ADPL, and in September, he expressed his intention to run in the by-election to show his opposition to the pro-democracy camp's preordaining of Lee Cheuk-yan to serve as preliminary candidate ("Plan B"). After Frederick Fung's break with the pro-democracy camp, ADPL immediately expressed its stance in support of Lee Cheuk-yan. During the canvassing period of the by-election, Frederick Fung was criticized by Lee Cheuk-yan for "vote rigging", which had a negative impact on the pro-democracy camp, describing him as "Team B of the pro-establishment camp". In the end, both Lee Cheuk-yan and Frederick Fung lost the by-election because their combined votes were less than that of Chan Hoi-yan, the representative of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

In 2019, the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement caused a backlash from Hong Kong public opinion, and Ronny Tong, as an executive council member, intensified the confrontation over the Hong Kong government's Extradition Law. After the Umbrella Movement, political conflict in Hong Kong society intensified again, narrowing the political space of the moderate groups. At the 2019 Hong Kong local elections, the moderate groups won only four seats, and all four running for Ronny Tong's Path of Democracy lost with a low vote and their election deposit was confiscated.

In 2020, Hope for Hong Kong was founded; the majority of its members are from or related to pro-business parties. However, the party was disbanded after a year.

In the 2021 Hong Kong legislative election, only one Tik Chi-yuen was elected from several moderate groups figures.

Political organizations

The Roundtable is not part of the moderate groups but has a moderate view among the pro-Beijing camp parties and is friendly to the moderate groups.

In Macau

In Macau, there are political party that claim to be "中間派" between pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps, it is Synergy of Macao founded in 2017.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Party (Hong Kong)</span> Political party in Hong Kong

The Democratic Party (DP) is a centre-left liberal political party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Lo Kin-hei, it is the flagship party in the pro-democracy camp and currently has no elected representatives in the District Councils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood</span> Political party in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) is a Hong Kong pro-democracy social-liberal political party catering to grassroots interest with a strong basis in Sham Shui Po. Established on 26 October 1986, it was one of the three major pro-democracy groups along with the Meeting Point and the Hong Kong Affairs Society in the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Fung</span> Hong Kong politician

Frederick Fung Kin-kee, SBS, JP is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1991 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2016 and the former chairman of the pro-democracy Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) from 1989 to 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Democrats of Hong Kong</span> Political party in Hong Kong

The United Democrats of Hong Kong was the first political party in Hong Kong. Founded in 1990, the short-lived party was the united front of the liberal democracy forces in preparation of the 1991 first ever direct election for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. The party won a landslide victory by sweeping 12 of the 18 directly elected seats in the election which shook the political landscape of Hong Kong. In 1994 it was merged with another pro-democracy party Meeting Point to form the contemporary Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kowloon West (1998 constituency)</span>

The Kowloon West geographical constituency was one of the five geographical constituencies of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1998 to 2021. It was established in 1998 for the first SAR Legislative Council election and was abolished under the 2021 overhaul of the Hong Kong electoral system. In the 2016 Legislative Council election, it elected six members of the Legislative Council using the Hare quota of party-list proportional representation. It had 602,733 registered electorates in 2020. The constituency corresponded to the districts of Yau Tsim Mong, Sham Shui Po, and Kowloon City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong)</span> Hong Kong political faction in favour of universal suffrage

The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic Law under the "One Country, Two Systems" framework.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 Hong Kong local elections</span>

The 2011 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 6 November 2011. Elections were held to all 18 District Councils of Hong Kong, returning 412 members from directly elected constituencies, each selecting a council member. After the government's constitutional reform package was passed in 2010, five new seats in the Legislative Council would be created in which the candidates would be nominated by all District Councillors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meeting Point</span> Political party in Hong Kong

Meeting Point was a liberal political organisation and party in Hong Kong formed by a group of former student activists in the 1970s and intellectuals for the discussion for the Sino-British negotiation on the question of Hong Kong prospect in 1983. It was one of the earliest groups in Hong Kong that favoured Chinese sovereignty over Hong Kong but wanted a free, democratic and autonomous Hong Kong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5th Legislative Council of Hong Kong</span> 2012–2016 Legislative Council of Hong Kong

The Fifth Legislative Council of Hong Kong was the fifth meeting of the legislative branch of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. The membership of the LegCo is based on the 2012 election. The term of the session is from 1 October 2012 to 30 September 2016, during the term in office of the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. Due to the new arrangements agreed in a contentious LegCo vote in 2010, the session consists of the new total of 70 seats in LegCo, ten more than previously, with 35 members elected in geographical constituencies through direct elections, and 35 members in functional constituencies, in which five District Council (Second) functional constituency seats each represent all 18 District councils of Hong Kong voted for by all resident voters in Hong Kong. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong remained the largest party while the pan-democrats secured the one-third crucial minority. Notable new members of the LegCo members include Gary Fan from the new established party Neo Democrats and first openly gay councillor, People Power's Ray Chan Chi-chuen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th Legislative Council of Hong Kong</span> 2008–2012 Legislative Council of Hong Kong

The Fourth Legislative Council of Hong Kong was the fourth meeting of the legislative branch of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. The membership of the LegCo is based on the 2008 election. The term of the session is from 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2012, during the second half of the Donald Tsang's administration and first two months of the Leung Chun-ying's term in office. The meeting place was moved from the Legislative Council Building to the new built Legislative Council Complex in 2011. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong remained the largest party with 10 seats. Notable newcomers to the Legislative Council included Regina Ip, Priscilla Leung, Wong Yuk-man, Tanya Chan, and Paul Tse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Hong Kong legislative election</span> Election in Hong Kong

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wong Sing-chi</span> Hong Kong politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Hong Kong local elections</span>

The 2015 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 22 November 2015. Elections were held to all 18 District Councils with returning 431 members from directly elected constituencies after all appointed seats had been abolished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 New Territories East by-election</span>

The 2016 New Territories East by-election was held on 28 February 2016 after the incumbent Legislative Councillor Ronny Tong Ka-wah of New Territories East quit the Civic Party and resigned from the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), effective on 1 October 2015.

Third Side is a liberal political party in Hong Kong which claims to offer a "third road" to democracy, positioned between the pro-democracy camp and the pro-Beijing camp. It is led by Tik Chi-yuen, who was a co-founder and longtime member of the Democratic Party until his expulsion in 2015 for promoting political reforms proposed by the Chinese central government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Path of Democracy</span> Political party in Hong Kong

Path of Democracy is a political group and think tank established in 2015 in Hong Kong. It is led by former Civic Party legislator Ronny Tong, who joined the Executive Council on 1 July 2017. Although officially unaligned with either the pro-Beijing camp or the pro-democracy camp, the group has been supportive of the policies and legislation put forward by the former, and was considered by the media to be pro-Beijing by 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Hong Kong legislative election in District Council (Second)</span>

These are the District Council (Second) functional constituency results of the 2016 Legislative Council election. The election was held on 4 September 2016 and all 5 seats in were contested. The pan-democracy camp failed to achieve coordination and fielded six candidate lists while the pro-Beijing camp fielded only three seats, two for Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and one for the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU). FTU incumbent Chan Yuen-han was no longer eligible for running as she retired from the District Council and Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) and Democratic Party incumbents Frederick Fung and Albert Ho lost their eligibility for running as they lost their District Council seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">November 2018 Kowloon West by-election</span>

The 2018 Kowloon West by-election was held on 25 November 2018 after the incumbent pro-democracy Legislative Councillor Lau Siu-lai of Kowloon West was disqualified from the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) after the oath-taking controversy resulted in the disqualifications of the six pro-democracy and localist legislators. It followed the by-election of four other vacated seats on 11 March 2018. Chan Hoi-yan, a nonpartisan backed by the pro-Beijing camp won over veteran democrat Lee Cheuk-yan of the Labour Party, a backup candidate for the pro-democracy camp after Lau's candidacy was disqualified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">March 2018 Hong Kong by-elections</span>

The 2018 Hong Kong Legislative Council by-election was held on 11 March 2018 for four of the six vacancies in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) - the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon West and New Territories East geographical constituencies and the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency - resulting from the disqualification of six pro-democrat and localist camp Legislative Council members over the 2016 oath-taking controversy. The by-election for the two other seats was not held due to pending legal appeals by the two disqualified legislators.

References

  1. ↑ Chih-Jou Jay Chen & Victor Zheng (2021). Changing Attitudes toward China in Taiwan and Hong Kong in the Xi Jinping Era. "... voters includes voters who responded as independent voters, moderate groups (中間派), 'all supported,' 'neither supported,' and 'not a party ...". 中央研究院社會學研究所 [Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica].
  2. ↑ "葵青同道投建制 泛民難翻盤". Archived from the original on 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  3. ↑ "愛國社團推薦 民建聯優先 194人名單 自由黨僅佔2". Archived from the original on 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
  4. ↑ "七成民意認同 港需溫和中間派". 香港商報. 2015-10-07. Archived from the original on 2016-03-14.
  5. ↑ "得票無增長 中間派感失望". 香港太陽報. 2016-03-01. Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  6. ↑ "險勝方國珊 梁國雄幸保尾席". 香港蘋果日報. 2016-09-06. Archived from the original on 2016-09-07. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
Regional Emblem of Hong Kong.svg

This Hong Kong politics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.