Hong Kong local elections, 2011

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Hong Kong local elections, 2011
← 2007 6 November 2011 2015 →
All Elected Constituencies
412 (of the 507) seats in all 18 Districts Councils
Turnout 41.49%
  First party Second party Third party
  Tam Yau Chung.jpg Albert Ho Chun Yan.jpg 150x150px
Leader Tam Yiu-chung Albert Ho Bruce Liu
Party DAB Democratic ADPL
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy Pro-democracy
Last election 115 seats, 25.73% 59 seats, 15.38% 17 seats, 4.60%
Seats won 136 47 15
Seat change Increase17 Decrease3 Decrease1
Popular vote 282,119 205,716 45,453
Percentage 23.89% 17.42% 3.85%
Swing Decrease1.84pp Increase2.04pp Decrease0.75pp
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  CF 150x150px 150x150px
Leader Ho Hau-cheung Cheng Yiu-tong Miriam Lau
Party Civil Force FTU Liberal
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing
Last election 18 seats, 2.71% 1 seat, 0.37% 14 seats, 4.39%
Seats won 15 11 9
Seat change Decrease3 Increase7 Increase3
Popular vote 35,221 36,646 23,408
Percentage 2.98% 3.10% 1.98%
Swing Increase0.27pp Increase2.73pp Decrease2.41pp
400px
Map of the winning party by constituency

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.[1] The pro-Beijing camp won the most seats from this election while the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong remained the biggest winner by taking 136 seats.

Background

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Main articles: Democratic development in Hong Kong and Consultation Document on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the LegCo in 2012

The Pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong has been urging for universal suffrage for decades. In 2005, a constitutional reform package was carried out by Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive. However, it was voted down by the pan-democrats as it did not state a clear timetable or road map to achieve an ultimate universal suffrage.

On 29 December 2007, the NPCSC (China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress) announced that the Chief Executive and all members of Legislative Council may be selected by universal suffrage in 2017 and 2020 respectively. The statement by Beijing was unclear and it implied the term "universal suffrage" may be defined by the Central Government.

Afterward, Donald Tsang carried out another reform package in 2009. While the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats councilors resigned from Legislative Council in order to launch a de facto referendum against the package and urging for real universal suffrage, their ally, the Democratic Party went for negotiation with the mainland officials and carried out a revised proposal. On 24–25 June 2010, the revised package was passed through the Legislative Council. It brought out a major split within the pan-democracy camp. A new radical party, People Power led by Wong Yuk-man and Albert Chan was announced to punish those who betrayal the cause of democracy.[2] The People Power sent total number of 62 candidates into the election, most of them chose to contest with the Democratic Party and ADPL candidates.

According to the new reform package, general public are allowed to elect district council members into LegCo from the new five-seat district council functional constituency following their nomination within the councillors in the 2012 election. District councils election thus become a new battlefield for the new five seats of LegCo in which many heavyweights chose to run for a seat for the super seats of LegCo including Chan Yuen-han, Ronny Tong and Lee Cheuk-yan.

Pre-election controversies

Political donations

Just one month before the election in October 2011, a leaked document revealed that Jimmy Lai, media mogul of Apple Daily has long been donating money to many supporters of democracy groups.[3] For example, the Democratic Party received HK$13,690,000 from 2006 to 2010. While the Civic Party received HK$14,566,500 for the same period.[3] Democracy supporter Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen was also seen receiving more than HK$20 million,[3] and the radical League of Social Democrats received HK$1 million last year. Former chief secretary Anson Chan received HK$1.3 million from 2007 to 2009.[3] According to Sina.com Lai was said to have donated about $10 million to democracy camp groups in a 5-year span.[4] The Wall Street Journal saw this as part of "a fresh campaign to accuse pro-democracy politicians of being stooges of foreign powers".[5]

Since 2009–2010 the top four political parties received a total of $70 million in donations.[6] Pro-establishment political groups are known to receive handsome political donations from many prominent Hong Kong businessmen. Out of that sum more than half ($48,370,000) went to the DAB. This amount was also 2.5 times more than the next pro-Beijing camp, Liberal Party as well as 7 times more than the sum received by pro-democracy camp groups like Civic Party and Democratic party.[6] The DAB received eight times the amount as the Democratic Party in 2009-10.[5]

However, there is a serious shortage of people donating to the democracy camp parties. Other than Lai, there seems to be nobody else in HK donating to the democracy camps any more.[6] According to Emily Lau, first there is definitely a question of transparency with regards to who is donating money.[6] There is also the issue of revealing donors. The WSJ believed that the taboo on discussing the activities of the Communist Party of China implies the Hong Kong government will never pass a law governing political parties. It added: "As a result, donor transparency will never be mandated."[5] The Communist Party of China bans and punishes people once they know who is donating to democracy camps.[6] In this election, the well-financed pro-Beijing parties swept the polls.[7]

Foreign domestic workers right of abode issues

Right of abode for foreign domestic workers in HK became an election issue as the Civic Party was closely identified with the legal advisers who represented one such Filipina.[8] The court case Vallejos v. Commissioner of Registration was one of the primary case in 2011. Pro-Beijing DAB argued that 125,000 workers were eligible, and would cause unemployment in Hong Kong to rise from 3.5% to between 7 and 10%.[9] The Pan-Democrats, particularly the Civic Party, were disadvantaged by this as many HK residents fear granting Filipinos permanent residency will affect them.[10]

Results

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For results by constituency, see Results breakdown of the Hong Kong local elections, 2011.

A post-handover record of 1.2 million voters cast their ballots. The pro-Beijing DAB secured the most seats. Albert Ho held his seat, but many other pro-democracy camp heavyweights lost their seat including Tanya Chan, Ronny Tong and Lee Cheuk-yan.[11] Democratic Party vice chairman Sin Chung-kai admitted that this was "a warning to the pro-democracy camp".[7]

e • d Summary of the 6 November 2011 District Councils of Hong Kong election results
Political Affiliation Popular vote % % +/− Standing Elected +/−
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong 282,119 23.89 -1.84 182 136 +17
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions 36,646 3.10 +2.73 20 11 +7
Civil Force 35,221 2.98 +0.27 20 15 -3
Liberal Party 23,408 1.98 -2.41 24 9 +3
New People's Party 15,568 1.32 - 12 4 +3
Economic Synergy 2,404 0.20 - 3 1 +1
Fu Cheong Estate Residents Association 2,235 0.19 - 1 1 +1
New Territories Association of Societies 2,187 0.19 - 2 2 +1
Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions 1,859 0.16 +0.04 2 1 0
Pro-Beijing Independents 252,720 21.40 - 172 121 -4
Total for pro-Beijing camp 654,368 55.42 +1.77 438 301 +26
Democratic Party 205,716 17.42 +2.04 132 47 -3
Civic Party 47,603 4.03 -0.26 41 7 -5
Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood 45,453 3.85 -0.75 26 15 -1
Neo Democrats 25,437 2.15 - 10 8 0
Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre 14,364 1.22 +0.11 6 5 +2
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions 4,044 0.34 +0.14 3 0 0
Power for Democracy 3,837 0.32 - 4 0 0
Individuals 23,007 1.95 -2.33 14 6 -1
Total for Democratic Coalition for DC Election 369,461 31.29 -3.60 236 88 -9
People Power 23,465 1.99 - 62 1 -1
League of Social Democrats 21,833 1.85 -0.66 28 0 -4
Land Justice League 3,025 0.26 - 4 0 0
Citizens' Radio 1,718 0.15 - 2 0 0
Independent democrats and others 45,015 3.81 - 37 14 -4
Total for pan-democracy camp 464,512 39.34 +0.18 369 103 -18
Independent and others 61,930 5.24 -1.96 108 8 +2
Total vaild votes 1,180,809 100.0 - 915 412 +7
Invaild votes 21,497
Total (turnout 41.49%) 1,202,544


Results by district

Council Previous control Previous party Camp control Largest party DAB DP CF ADPL Lib Civ FTU Others Details
Central and Western Pro-Beijing Democratic Pro-Beijing DAB 5 4 1 5 Details
Wan Chai Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 3 2 Details
Eastern Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 16 2 2 3 1 13 Details
Southern Pro-Beijing Democratic Pro-Beijing Democratic 2 5 1 1 8 Details
Yau Tsim Mong Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 8 1 8 Details
Sham Shui Po No Overall Control ADPL Pro-Beijing ADPL 4 7 10 Details
Kowloon City Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 7 1 4 1 9 Details
Wong Tai Sin Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 9 3 2 1 1 9 Details
Kwun Tong Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 12 2 1 20 Details
Tsuen Wan Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 4 1 2 1 9 Details
Tuen Mun Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 12 7 2 8 Details
Yuen Long Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 7 3 2 2 17 Details
North Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB (majority) 14 1 2 Details
Tai Po Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 8 1 10 Details
Sai Kung Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 7 2 3 2 10 Details
Sha Tin Pro-Beijing Civil Force Pro-Beijing Civil Force 9 5 12 1 11 Details
Kwai Tsing Pro-Beijing Democratic Pro-Beijing Democratic 5 9 2 13 Details
Islands Pro-Beijing DAB Pro-Beijing DAB 4 1 1 4 Details

Vote summary







Circle frame.svg

Votes, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (55.42%)
  Pan-democrats (39.34%)
  Other (5.24%)







Circle frame.svg

Seats, of total, by camp

  Pro-Beijing (73.06%)
  Pan-democrats (25.00%)
  Other (1.94%)
Popular vote
DAB
  
 23.89%
Democratic
  
 17.42%
Civic
  
 4.03%
ADPL
  
 3.85%
FTU
  
 3.10%
Civil Force
  
 2.98%
Neo Democrats
  
 2.15%
People Power
  
 1.99%
Liberal
  
 1.98%
LSD
  
 1.85%
NPP
  
 1.32%
NWSC
  
 1.22%
Others
  
 34.22%

Seat summary

Seats
DAB
  
 33.01%
Democratic
  
 11.41%
ADPL
  
 3.64%
Civil Force
  
 3.64%
FTU
  
 2.67%
Liberal
  
 2.18%
Neo Democrats
  
 1.94%
Civic
  
 1.70%
NWSC
  
 1.21%
Others
  
 38.60%

Post-election issues

Following the election, pan-democrats complained of irregularities in voter registration records, and a number of candidates who lost in marginal seats made allegations of electoral fraud to the police. The government was criticised for failing to address the issue back in 2006 after alleged instances where multiple voters had registered under a same address surfaced. In defence, Chief Secretary Stephen Lam said that the matter was "investigated thoroughly five years ago", and that "no evidence of vote rigging were found".[12] The police received 16 such complaints in 2011.[13]

Among the irregularities alleged was that almost 100 voters in Central used registered offices and hotels as their home addresses.[13] Democratic Party candidate, Winfield Chong, who lost by 24 votes, said six buildings in the Sai Wan constituency used by approximately 120 voters to register were either being demolished or had been demolished; Yeung Sui-yin, who lost the Belcher seat by 33 votes, filed a complaint with the police, also alleging ballot rigging.[12][13]

ADPL candidate Lam Kin-man, who lost King's Park constituency by two votes, took up his complaint with the ICAC. Lam alleged that, for example, five registered voters at one flat in the constituency where he was candidate all had different surnames; none of the voters registered at seven flats were present or past owners.[12][13] two units said to have been used for storage purposes each had 10 registered voters.[14] Following up on the allegations, the ICAC mounted "Operation Wave Spray", according to which 22 suspects were found to have "provided false information about their residential addresses to election officers"; six of them were charged.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 South China morning post. Lai hits back over donations furore . 19 Oct 2011.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Black Hands' in Hong Kong", pg 16, The Wall Street Journal. December 5, 2011.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Dioquino, Rose-An Jessica (8 November 2011). "Pro-domestic workers candidates lose in HK polls". GMA Network. Archived on 5 December 2011
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Lee, Samson (29 November 2011) "Past haunts Lam on election fraud", The Standard. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Lee, Colleen; Chong, Tanna; Lau, Stuart (29 November 2011). "Voter listed Four Seasons hotel as a home". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
  14. ↑ Vote-rigging complaint by candidate RTHK. 29 November 2011. Archived 5 December 2011.
  15. ↑ "ICAC detains 22 in vote-rigging probe". RTHK. 5 December 2011. Archived 5 December 2011.

External links

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