The 2003 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 23 November 2003 for all 18

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

of Hong Kong, 400 members from directly elected constituencies out of total 529 council members. It was the second District Council election after the

handover of Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a specia ...

in 1997. The election was historically significant as it was the first election came after the controversies over the legislation of the

Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 Article 23 is an article of the Hong Kong Basic Law. It states that Hong Kong "shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to pr ...

and the large-scale July 1 protests in mid-2003 against the unpopular

Tung Chee-hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born May 29, 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and retired politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He served as a vice chairman of th ...

administration. The election saw the devastating defeat of the pro-government

pro-Beijing camp The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp or pro-China camp is a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Government of the People's Republic of China, Beijing central government and the Chinese Commun ...

. The pro-Beijing flagship party

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a pro-Beijing political party registered since 1992 in Hong Kong. Chaired by Gary Chan and holding 19 Legislative Council seats, it is currently the largest party ...

(DAB) received the largest defeat in the elections, only 62 of the 206 of its candidates were elected. The party's heavyweights, Yeung Yiu-chung,

Lau Kong-wah Ray Lau Kong-wah, JP (born 22 June 1957, Hong Kong), is a former Hong Kong Government official and former member of both the Legislative Council and the Executive Council. Until 2020, he was Secretary for Home Affairs. Lau was vice-chairm ...

and

Ip Kwok-him Ip Kwok-him, Grand Bauhinia Medal, GBM, Gold Bauhinia Star, GBS, Justice of the Peace, JP ( zh, 葉國謙; born 8 November 1951) is a former unofficial member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, served between 2016 and 2022. He is also forme ...

all lost their seats to the pro-democracy challengers, with Ip lost his longtime base of Kwun Lung to Cyd Ho of The Frontier.

Choy So-yuk Choy So-yuk, BBS, JP (, born 10 October 1950) is a Hong Kong politician. She was an elected member of Eastern District Council and a Hong Kong Deputy of the National People’s Congress. From 1997 to 2008 she was a member of the Legislative ...

also faced challenge from

Leung Kwok-hung Leung Kwok-hung ( zh, t=梁國雄; born 27 March 1956), also known by his nickname "Long Hair" (), is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council, representing the New Territories East. A Trotskyist ...

of April Fifth Action, only retained her seat with narrow margin. DAB chairman

Tsang Yok-sing Jasper Tsang Yok-sing ( zh, t=曾鈺成; born 17 May 1947) is a Hong Kong politician. He is the founding member of the largest pro-Beijing party the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) from 1992 to 2003 and ...

resigned for the party's defeat after the election, and subsequently was replaced by

Ma Lik Ma Lik, GBS, JP (; 23 February 1952 – 8 August 2007), was a Legislative Councillor, and was the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), a pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. Education Ma Lik attende ...

. The

pro-democracy camp 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 La ...

received overall success, with Democratic Party winning the most of 95 seats. After the election,

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 appointed 102 pro-government members to the District Councils to dilute the influence of the pro-democrats and retained control of some of the councils.

Overview

Before the elections were held, media had speculated the effect of the controversy over the legislation of the

to the

. With the surge of popularity after the 2003 July 1 protests, the pro-democrats managed to present a united platform in the District Council election. More than two hundred candidates form all pro-democracy parties and groups supported the direct election of the

by 2007; direct elections of all seats of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

by 2008; the initiation of public consultations on political reforms by the government before the end of 2003; and the abolition of all appointed seats to the District Councils after the November 2003 elections. The pro-democrat candidates challenged the heavyweights of the

(DAB), the flagship pro-government party in many constituencies, including the party vice-chairman

's Kwun Lung,

's Kam Ping, Yeung Yiu-chung's Mei Foo South and

's Kam To. Lau Kong-wah stood in Kam To, challenging Democratic Party's Shirley Ho Suk-ping. As Lau was the Legislative Councillor for

New Territories East New Territories East is the eastern part of New Territories, covering North District, Hong Kong, North, Tai Po District, Tai Po, Sha Tin District, Sha Tin, and Sai Kung District. History All districts except Sai Kung District have been connected ...

, pro-democrats saw Kam To as a crucial target. Icons like

Audrey Eu Audrey Eu Yuet-mee is a Hong Kong lawyer and politician who represented Hong Kong Island in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 2000 to 2012. Eu was the founding leader of the Civic Party and was a member of the party's executive commit ...

Alan Leong Alan Leong Kah-kit ( zh, c=梁家傑; born 22 February 1958), SC is a former member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, representing the Kowloon East geographical constituency and former chairman of the now-disbanded Civic Party. He was ...

and Cheung Man-kwong took turns campaigning for Shirley Ho. Standing in the traditional

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

community Kam Ping, Choy so-yuk faced the challenged from

of the April Fifth Action, while The Frontier's Cyd Ho stood in Kwun Lung against Ip Kwok-him. Both Ho and Ip were members of the Legislative Council, while Ip chaired the Legco committee on the national security bill. Ho was supported by

Article 45 Concern Group Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group was a pro-democracy political group in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (HKSAR) . It was established on 14 November 2003 by legal practitioners and academics. It ha ...

Ronny Tong Ronny Tong Ka-wah (; born 28 August 1950) is a senior counsel and politician in Hong Kong. He is a current non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong. He co-founded the Civic Party and was a member of the Legislative Council of ...

and Ip was supported by the DAB chairman

. An unprecedented record of 44 percent, in total of 1.06 millions voters cast their vote in the election. In result, Yeung Yiu-chung, Lau Kong-wah and Ip Kwok-him were all defeated by the pro-democrats while Choy So-yuk retained her seat with narrow margin. The pro-democracy flagship party Democratic Party became the clear winner by winning the most number of 95 seats. Cyd Ho's

Civic Act-up Civic Act-up () is a small pro-democracy political group in Hong Kong. It was founded on 24 September 2003 by a group of relatively young activists with the encouragement of Legislative Councillor Cyd Ho, to challenge the existing pro-governmen ...

which was established after the July 1 protest also captured three seats in the Wan Chai District Council and was able to control the council for the first time with the other independent councillors. Only 62 of the 206 DAB candidates were elected, which became the worst defeat in DAB's history. Tsang Yok-sing took responsibility for the electoral setback and resigned his chairman post. He claimed that the defeat was due to the DAB's unfortunate "Tung loyalist" public image.

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="10" , , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 241,202 , , 22.94 , , 0.59 , , 200 , , 62 , , 21 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Civil Force Civil Force () is a pro-Beijing, district-based political party in Hong Kong. Since 2014, the Civil Force has entered an alliance with the New People's Party of Regina Ip. Headed by chairman Pun Kwok-shan, it has its stronghold in the Sha Tin ...

, 25,720 , , 2.45 , , 0.02 , , 22 , , 17 , , 3 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

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 ...

, 29,108 , , 2.77 , , 0.65 , , 27 , , 14 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Progressive Alliance , 29,091 , , 2.77 , , 0.05 , , 23 , , 13 , , 5 , - , style="background-color: #E50500", , style="text-align:left;" , Wan Chai Community Union , 1,189 , , 0.11 , , - , , 1 , , 1 , , - , - , 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 ...

, 2,766 , , 0.26 , , 0.13 , , , 3 , , 0 , , - , - , style="background-color: #FF8C00", , style="text-align:left;" , New Youth Forum , 1,314 , , 0.12 , , - , , 2 , , 0 , , - , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , New Century Forum , 833 , , 0.08 , , - , , 1 , , 0 , , - , - , style="background-color: ", , style="text-align:left;" , Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions , - , , - , , - , , 1 , , 1 , , - , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Independent and others , 156,827 , , 14.92 , , - , , 136 , , 92 , , 6 , - , - style="background-color:Pink" , colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" , Total for pro-Beijing camp , , 489,889 , , 46.48 , , 0.97 , , 417, , 201 , , 28 , - , style="background-color:lightgreen;border-bottom-style:hidden;" rowspan="13", , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Democratic Party , 223,675 , , 21.27 , , 3.57 , , 120 , , 95 , , 17 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood 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 ...

, 53,264 , , 5.07 , , 0.36 , , 37 , , 25 , , 4 , - , 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 ...

, 25,349 , , 2.41 , , 1.25 , , 14 , , 6 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre , 14,146 , , 1.35 , , 0.94 , , 5 , , 4 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Yuen Long Tin Shui Wai Democratic Alliance , 8,418 , , 0.80 , , - , , 6 , , 4 , , 2 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 5,170 , , 0.49 , , - , , 5 , , 3 , , 3 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Central and Western Democratic Power , 5,748 , , 0.55, , - , , 4 , , 2 , , - , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions Hong may refer to: Places *Høng, a town in Denmark *Hong Kong, a city and a special administrative region in China *Hong, Nigeria *Hong River in China and Vietnam *Lake Hong in China Surnames *Hong (Chinese surname) *Hong (Korean surname) O ...

, 4,032 , , 0.38 , , - , , 3 , , 2 , , 2 , - , style="background-color: #1c41e0", , style="text-align:left;" , Yuen Long Democratic Alliance , 1,489 , , 0.14 , , - , , 1 , , 1 , , - , - , width=1px style="background-color: #FF7312" , , style="text-align:left;" , 7.1 People Pile , 2,888 , , 0.27 , , - , , 3 , , 0, , - , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , April Fifth Action , 1,149 , , 0.11 , , - , , 1 , , 0 , , - , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Citizens Party , 361 , , 0.03 , , 0.22 , , 1 , , 0 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Independent democrats , 130,453 , , 12.41 , , - , , 87 , , 56 , , 8 , - style="background-color:LightGreen" , colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" , Total for pro-democracy camp , , 477,596 , , 45.54 , , 10.29 , , 288 , , 198 , , 38 , - , - style="background-color:#DDDDDD;" , colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" , Independent and others , 83,939 , , 7.98 , , - , , 132 , , 1 , , - , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3", Total (turnout 44.10%) , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 1,051,424 , 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", 837 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 400 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 10

Results by district

Vote summary

Seat summary

Aftermath

In December 2003 after the elections, Tung appointed 21 political party appointees to the District Councils to dilute the influence of the pro-democrats as follows:Frank Ching, "Tsang grooms his kind of political talent", Pg A12, ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

'', 24 June 2008 * 8 members of the Liberal Party * 6 members of the DAB * 6 members from the Progressive Alliance * 1 from the New Century Forum Professor of politics and sociology at

Lingnan University Lingnan University a public research university located in Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong. Lingnan University has 3 faculties, 3 Schools, 16 departments, 2 language centres, and 2 units (science and music), offering 29 degree honours ...

, Dr. Li Pang-kwong said "As in the past, most of the appointees were pro-government or persons without a clear political stance... ensur ngthat no district council is in the hands of the democrats." A spokesman for the democrats said the appointees "will have an unfair advantage in that they are getting financial support from the government which will help them run for office in future elections."Michael Ng
Tung picks 'dilute' bodies
, ''The Standard'', 29 December 2003

References

{{Hong Kong elections 2003 elections in Asia 2003 elections in China 2003 in Hong Kong

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

November 2003 in China