Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, 2006

Democratic Party (HK) leadership election

17 December 2006

Candidate Albert Ho Chan King-ming Percentage 71.6% 28.4%

Chairman before election Lee Wing-tat Elected Chairman Albert Ho

The Democratic Party leadership election was held on 17 December 2006 for the leadership including chairman, two vice-chairman posts and 27 members of the 7th Central Committee of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong. Legislative Council member and party's Vice-Chiarman Albert Ho from the mainstreamer faction defeated the incumbent Vice-Chairman Chan King-ming from the Young Turks faction with a large margin, succeeding Lee Wing-tat as the Chairman of the party.

Eligibility

The Central Committee was elected by the party congress. All public office holders, including the members of the Legislative Council and District Councils, are eligible to vote in the party congress. Every 30 members can also elect a delegate who holds one vote in the congress.

Overview

The Democratic Party was suffering from the intra-party factional struggles between the mainstreamers and Young Turk reformists, while it was also facing the external challenge from the newly established Civic Party from the same pan-democracy camp. In March, 2006, the Mainstreamer faction alleged that some senior members were involved in spying activities of China. The "suspects" were all Young Turks Reformist members including Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the New Territories East branch Chan King-ming and District Councillor Gary Fan Kwok-wai in New Territories East.

On 27 November, the incumbent Vice-Chairman and Legislative Council member Albert Ho announced he would run for the Chairman post with a cabinet list, including Legislative Council member Sin Chung-kai and Central Committee member Tik Chi-yuen running for the two Vice-Chairman posts, Peggy Ha Ving-vung for the Secretary post and Cheung Yin-tung for the Treasurer post.

Supported by the reformist Young Turks faction, another incumbent Vice-Chairman Chan King-ming ran for the Chairman for the second time after his defeat by Lee Wing-tat in the last party leadership election in 2004.

Elections

Chairman election
Candidate		Votes	%
	Albert Ho Chun-yan	204	71.6
	Chan King-ming	81	28.4

Vice-Chairmen election
Candidate		Votes	%
	Sin Chung-kai	180	32.7
	Tik Chi-yuen	170	30.9
	Fung Wai-kwong	79	14.4
	Shirley Ho Suk-ping	73	13.3
	Cosmas Kwong Kwok-chuen	48	8.7

Central Committee election
Candidate		Votes
	Yeung Sum	221
	Law Chi-kwong	216
	Lee Wing-tat	210
	Szeto Wah	210
	Wu Chi-wai	209
	Cheung Yin-tung	208
	Josephine Chan Shu-ying	207
	Simon Lee Shiu-man	200
	Ng Wing-fai	197
	Nelson Wong Kin-shing	197
	Wong Sing-chi	196
	Mark Li Kin-yin	195
	Tsui Hon-kwong	194
	James To Kun-sun	192
	Howard Lam Tsz-kin	191
	Chai Man-hon	188
	Chan Ka-wai	187
	Peggy Ha Ving-vung	179
	Law Chun-ngai	179
	Ng Kim-sing	176
	Mok Siu-lun	166
	Cheung Yuet-lan	163
	Kwong Chun-yu	158
	Lam Wing-yin	156
	Yuen Bun-keung	153
	Leung Kai-wah	150
	Joanna Leung Suk-ching	150
	Fung Wai-kwong	144
	Chiu Chung-lam	121
	Gary Fan Kwok-wai	114
	Chan King-ming	110
	Shirley Ho Suk-ping	96
	Cosmas Kwong Kwok-chuen	96
	Yam Kai-bong	98
	Kwan Wing-yip	89
	Raymond Luk Yiu-man	65
	Wong Chun-wai	60
	Sham Wing-kan	51
	Lai Chi-keong	46
	Wong Leung-hi	46
	Lau Tai-sang	36
	Lam Chung-hoi	32
	Cheung Po-hop	30
	Chow Wai-tung	22
	Wong Fung-yau	21

Results

The mainstreamer legislator Albert Ho defeated reformist Vice-Chairman Chan King-ming by winning 204 votes to 81 votes. Sin Chung-kai and Tik Chi-yuen from Ho's team also elected Vice-Chairmen with 180 and 170 votes respectively, defeating Cosmas Kwong Kwok-chuen the Young Turk reformist, Andrew Fung Wai-kwong of the Meeting Point faction, and Shirley Ho Suk-ping supported by legislator and founding Chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming and legislator Andrew Cheng Kar-foo. 26 of the 27 mainstreamers candidates were elected except for Chiu Chung-lam, Chairman of the Kowloon East branch. Andrew Fung was the single candidate of the Meeting Point faction who was elected to the Central Committee. The seven reformist members were all defeated.

The elected members of the 7th Central Committee are listed as following:

• Chairman: Albert Ho
• Vice-Chairmen: Sin Chung-kai, Tik Chi-yuen
• Secretary: Peggy Ha
• Treasurer: Cheung Yin-tung
• Executive Committee Members:

• Chan Ka-wai
• Josephine Chan Shu-ying
• Howard Lam Tsz-kin
• Law Chi-kwong
• Lee Wing-tat
• Ng Wing-fai
• Szeto Wah
• Tsui Hon-kwong
• Wong Sing-chi
• Yeung Sum

• Central Committee Members:

• Chai Man-hon
• Cheung Yuet-lan
• Fung Wai-kwong
• Kwong Chun-yu
• Lam Wing-yin
• Law Chun-ngai
• Lee Shiu-man
• Joanna Leung Suk-ching
• Mark Li Kin-yin
• Mok Siu-lun
• Ng Kim-sing
• James To Kun-sun
• Wong Kin-shing
• Wu Chi-wai
• Yuen Bun-keung

Aftermath

The newly elected Chairman Albert Ho said his team won because the party members understood that they were in crisis and needed a strong leadership. He called for the intra-party solidarity and stated his main task would be to bring different factions together within the party and prepare for the 2007 District Council elections and 2008 Legislative Council election.

Although being criticised by some reformists, Ho stated that it was a free and fair election that party members must respect and accept the election results. The failed candidate Chan King-ming said the party was inclusive and open so he would continue to give advices to the leadership about reform.

Political scientist Ivan Choy commented that the election results showed the loss of trust between the mainstreamers and reformists. The New Territories East branch which the reformists dominated would confront the party's central authorities. That might lead to another split if the conflicts continued and bad election results came out badly in the District Council elections next year.