The 1999 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 28 November 1999 for all 18 districts of Hong Kong, for 390 members from directly elected constituencies out of total 519 council members. It was the first District Council election after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, replacing the existing Provisional District Councils appointed by

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Tung Chee-hwa. The pro-Beijing camp scored fairly well in the election, with the flagship pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), improved its performance in catching up with the Democratic Party, the largest pro-democracy party. The Democratic Party sustained its political momentum by securing 24.9 per cent of the votes as compared to 22.8 per cent in 1994. The DAB and the Democratic Party became the largest parties in the District Councils, while DAB captured 83 seats out of 176 candidates, the Democratic Party captured 86 out of 173 candidates. The pro-grassroots pro-democracy party, the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), appeared to lose some popular support from 7 per cent of the total vote in 1994 to 4.7 per cent in 1999. Overall, the pro-democracy forces failed to enhance their influence and outperform the pro-Beijing camp. After the election, Tung Chee-hwa reintroduced appointed members to the District Councils, appointing 102 pro-government members to prevent the pro-democracy camp from dominating the councils.

Overview

In comparison to the 1994 District Board elections, the pro-Beijing camp improved their performance and closed the gap with the pro-democracy camp. Although the Democratic Party maintained its share of votes, its success rate decline slightly due to the fct the party nominated far more candidates than it had in the 1994 elections. The Democratic Party contested directly with the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the pro-Beijing party, in 96 constituencies, of which 54 were won by the Democrats, 36 by the DAB contenders and 6 by other candidates. Incumbents changing their constituencies such as Stanley Ng Wing-fai in Yau Tsim Mong District and Shirley Ho Suk-ping in the Sha Tin District were defeated by the pro-Beijing candidates. Other pro-democracy parties such as the 123 Democratic Alliance and the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) failed to achieve any breakthrough in elections. The 123 Democratic Alliance increased both its success rate and the number of candidates, but only winning 6 seats. It remained a small party and was eventually dissolved in 2000 due to the lack of financial support from the Taiwan government. The ADPL filled less candidates partly due to some ADPL defecting to the Democratic Party in 1997 after the internal dispute over the question of joining the Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council. The ADPL failed to penetrate into other districts apart from its political base at Shamshuipo. The Frontier and the Citizens Party remained uninterested in the local elections, with the Frontier nominated only 9 candidates to compete in Sha Tin and Eastern districts, of which 4 of them were elected. The Citizens Party had only Chan Tim-shing elected in the Eastern District. The pro-Beijing camp relied on the DAB to counter the pro-democracy forces. The DAB drastically increased its numbers of candidates from 83 in 1994 to 176 in 1999. Its success rate also rose from 44.6 per cent to 47.2 per cent, contributed by the strong grassroots work of the DAB candidates. The pro-business

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

improved its performance by lower its candidates form 89 to 34, with success rate rising from 20.2 to 44.1 per cent. The Liberal Party recruited some candidates with strong grassroots networks prior the elections to compensate its weakness in district works. The party leaders, such as Chairman James Tien Pei-chun, legislators Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee and Howard Young also contested in the elections, though Chow was defeated. The Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (PA) strategically merged with the Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong (LDF), nominating fewer candidates and improving its performance by winning 16 as compared to 12 in 1994. The stronghold of PA remained in the Kowloon City District, with the expansion of its influence to Sai Kung and Sha Tin districts. The Shatin-based Civil Force slightly increased its number of seats but saw a decline in its success rate.

Results

General outcome

, - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=3 , Political Affiliation ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Popular vote ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , %± ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Standing ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Elected ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , ± , - , style="background-color:Pink;border-bottom-style:hidden;" rowspan="8" , , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong , 190,792 , , 23.53 , , 11.82 , , 176 , , 83 , , 27 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Progressive Alliance , 23,168 , , 2.86 , , 1.33 , , 25 , , 16 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 27,718 , , 3.42 , , 3.98 , , 34 , , 15 , , 3 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Civil Force , 19,633 , , 2.42 , , 0.65 , , 14 , , 11 , , 2 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) is a pro-Beijing labour and political group established in 1948 in Hong Kong. It is the oldest and largest labour group in Hong Kong with over 420,000 members in 253 affiliates and associated ...

, 1,074 , , 0.13 , , - , , 1 , , 1 , , 1 , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , New Territories Heung Yee Kuk , 942 , , 0.12 , , - , , 1 , , 1 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Chinese Reform Association , - , , - , , - , , 1 , , 1 , , 0 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Independent and others , 177,774 , , 21.92 , , - , , 180 , , 104 , , 4 , - style="background-color:Pink" , colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" , Total for pro-Beijing camp , , 443,441 , , 54.69, , - , , 436 , , 232 , , 22 , - , style="background-color:LightGreen;border-bottom-style:hidden;" rowspan="8", , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Democratic Party , 201,461 , , 24.85 , , 1.69 , , 173 , , 86 , , 13 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood , 38,119 , , 4.70 , , 2.25 , , 32 , , 19 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , 123 Democratic Alliance , 11,396 , , 1.41 , , 0.60 , , 10 , , 6 , , 0 , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" ,

Frontier A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...

, 9,388 , , 1.16 , , - , , 9 , , 4 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre , 3,295 , , 0.41 , , - , , 3 , , 2 , , 0 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Citizens Party , 2,072 , , 0.26 , , - , , 1 , , 1 , , 0 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Democratic Foundation , 1,392 , , 0.17 , , 0.42 , , 1 , , 1 , , 0 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Independent democrats , 58,706 , , 7.24 , , - , , 54 , , 38 , , 7 , - style="background-color:LightGreen" , colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" , Total for pro-democracy camp , , 325,829 , , 40.18 , , - , , 283 , , 157 , , 22 , - style="background-color:#DDDDDD;" , colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" , Independent and others , 41,593 , , 5.13 , , - , , 79 , , 1 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3", Total (turnout 35.82%) , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 810,863 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.0 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", - , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 798 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 390 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 44 Note1: The total seats of the District Councils are 519 including 27 ex-officio members (Rural Committee Chairmen in the New Territories), and 102 members appointed members by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
Note2: Councilor Lau Kong-wah who ran under both DAB and Civil Force banners is counted as a DAB member in this chart.

Results by district

Vote summary

Seat summary

Aftermath

Tung Chee-hwa appointed 102 members to the District Council after the election to prevent the pro-democracy camp from dominating the District Councils. These included 41 from various political parties, namely the

, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance. There were no democrats appointed. The pro-democrats thus lost their domination of the

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 ...

, Wong Tai Sin and

Yau Tsim Mong Yau Tsim Mong District is one of Districts of Hong Kong, 18 districts of Hong Kong, located on the western part of Kowloon Peninsula. It is the core urban area of Kowloon. The district has the second highest population density of all distr ...

District Councils where the pro-democrats had 15, 11 and 6 directly elected seats while pro-Beijing camp gained 15, 10 and 6 seats and 18, 14 and 8 seats after the appointments respectively.

References

{{Hong Kong elections 1999 elections in Asia 1999 elections in China 1999 in Hong Kong

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

November 1999 in China