The 1985 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was an
indirect election
An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...
for members of the
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, colloquially known as LegCo, is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under People's Republic of China, China's "one country, two systems" c ...
(LegCo) held on 26 September 1985. It was the first ever election of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong which marked the beginning of the Hong Kong
representative democracy
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a type of democracy where elected delegates represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies func ...
.
After the
Sino-British Joint Declaration
The Sino-British Joint Declaration was a treaty between the governments of the United Kingdom and People's Republic of China signed in 1984 setting the conditions in which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and for the governance o ...
, the Hong Kong government decided to start the process of democratisation in Hong Kong based on the consultative document ''
Green Paper: the Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong'' published on 18 July 1984. There were 12 members elected by the
Electoral Colleges
An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliamenta ...
and 12 by the
functional constituencies, four official members and the rest of the seats were appointed by the
governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
.
Composition
Electoral colleges
12
unofficial member
Unofficial Member is the name given to individuals who are members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and Legislative Council of Hong Kong but who are not members of the Hong Kong Government. The terms "Unofficial" (or "non-official") and ...
s were elected by the electoral college comprised all members of the
District Boards, the
Urban Council
The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...
and the new
Regional Council. In order to achieve a more balanced and adequate representation the District Boards would be grouped into ten geographical constituencies each representing approximately 500,000 people. The remaining two seats would be provided by the two special constituencies formed respectively by members of the Urban Council and the Regional Council. The interests of the
Heung Yee Kuk would be represented through the Regional Council. The 12 constituencies formed from the electoral college were:
#
East Island:
Eastern District and
Wan Chai District
Wan Chai District is one of the districts of Hong Kong, 18 districts of Hong Kong. Of the four on Hong Kong Island, it is north-central, and had 166,695 residents in 2021, an increase from 152,608 residents in 2011. The district has the sec ...
#
West Island
The West Island (, ) is the unofficial name given to the city, towns and boroughs at the western end of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. It is generally considered to consist of the Lakeshore municipalities of Lachine (specific ...
:
Central & Western District and
Southern District
#
Kwun Tong
Kwun Tong is an area in the Kwun Tong District of Hong Kong, situated at the eastern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, and its boundary stretches from Lion Rock in the north to Lei Yue Mun in the south, and from the winding paths of Kowloon P ...
:
Kwun Tong District
Kwun Tong is one of the districts of Hong Kong, 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is located in Kowloon, and is the easternmost and southernmost district in Kowloon. It had a population of 666,500 in 2023. The district has the second highest pop ...
#
Wong Tai Sin
Wong Tai Sin or Huang Daxian () is a Chinese Taoist deity popular in Jinhua, Zhejiang, and Hong Kong with the power of healing. The name, meaning the "Great Immortal Wong (Huang)", is the divine form of Huang Chuping or Wong Cho Ping (; c. 328 ...
:
Wong Tai Sin District
Wong Tai Sin District is one of the districts of Hong Kong, 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is the only landlocked district in Hong Kong. It is located in Kowloon, and is the northernmost district in Kowloon. It borders the districts of Kwun Ton ...
#
Kowloon City
Kowloon City is an area in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is part of Kowloon City District.
Compared with the council area of Kowloon City District, the Kowloon City area is
History
As early as in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), Kowloon ...
:
Kowloon City District
Kowloon City District is one of the districts of Hong Kong, 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is located in the city of Kowloon and cut through by Boundary Street. It had a population of 381,352 in 2001, and increased to 418,732 in 2016. The di ...
#
Sham Shui Po
Sham Shui Po () is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...
:
Sham Shui Po District
Sham Shui Po District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is the second poorest district by income in Hong Kong, with a predominantly working-class population of 405,869 in 2016 and the lowest median household income of all districts. Sham ...
#
South Kowloon:
Mong Kok District and
Yau Ma Tei District
#
East New Territories:
North District,
Tai Po District
Tai Po District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. The suburban district covers the areas of Tai Po New Town (including areas such as Tai Po Market, , Tai Po Industrial Estate, Tai Wo Estate), Tai Po Tau, Tai Po Kau, Hong Lok Yue ...
and
Shatin District
#
West New Territories:
Yuen Long District
Yuen Long District (Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation, formerly Un Long) is one of the districts of Hong Kong, districts of Hong Kong. Located in the northwest of the New Territories, it had a population of 662,000 in 2021.
Geogra ...
and
Tuen Mun District
The Tuen Mun District () is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong, administrative districts of Hong Kong. As of 2021, the population was 506,879, of which 64,000 were under the age of 18. Part of the district is the Tuen Mun New Town (or sim ...
#
South New Territories:
Tsuen Wan District
Tsuen Wan District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is located in the New Territories and is served by the Tsuen Wan line of the MTR metro system. Its area is 60.7 km2. Its residents, who mostly live in Tsuen Wan Town, enjo ...
(including
Tsing Yi
Tsing Yi (), sometimes referred to as Tsing Yi Island, is an island in the New Territories of Hong Kong, to the northwest of Hong Kong Island and south of Tsuen Wan. With an area of , the island has been extended drastically by reclamation alo ...
),
Islands District
The Islands District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is part of the New Territories. It had a population of 185,282 in 2021.
Hong Kong consists of a peninsula and 263 islands. The Islands District consists of some twenty large and ...
and
Sai Kung District
Sai Kung District is one of the districts of Hong Kong, 18 districts of Hong Kong. The district comprises the southern half of the Sai Kung Peninsula, the Clear Water Bay Peninsula in the New Territories and a strip of land to the east of Ko ...
#
Urban Council
The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...
#
Regional Council
Functional constituencies
Nine functional constituencies returned 12 unofficial members to the Legislative Council. The commercial, industrial, and labour constituencies would each return two unofficial members to the Legislative Council. The remaining six constituencies would each return one unofficial member. The nine functional constituencies and their representative organizations were:
# Commercial (2 seats):
##
First Commercial:
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce
##
Second Commercial:
Chinese General Chamber of Commerce
The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (CGCCHK; ) is a non-profit organization of local Chinese firms and businessmen based in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1900 by Ho Fook and Lau Chu-pak, two prominent leaders of the Chinese community during t ...
# Industrial (2 seats):
##
First Industrial:
Federation of Hong Kong Industries
##
Second Industrial:
Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong
#
Financial
Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...
:
Hong Kong Association of Banks
#
Labour (2 seats): all registered employee
trade unions
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
#
Social Services
Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...
:
Hong Kong Council of Social Service
#
Medical
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
:
Hong Kong Medical Association
#
Teaching
Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the of an educational institution. Teaching is closely related ...
#
Legal
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...
#
Engineering, Architectural, Surveying and Planning
Results
Electoral College Constituencies
The Electoral College constituencies adopted the
exhaustive ballot voting method. Only the results of the final rounds are shown below.
Functional Constituencies
See also
*
Democratic development in Hong Kong
*
History of Hong Kong
The region of Hong Kong has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, Old Stone Age, later becoming part of the Chinese Empire with its loose incorporation into the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). Starting out as a Walled villages of Hong Kong, farming ...
References
{{Hong Kong elections
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
1985 in Hong Kong
Legislative
A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...
1985 elections in British Overseas Territories
September 1985 in Asia