The 2018 Hong Kong Legislative Council by-election was held on 11 March 2018 for four of the six vacancies in 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) - the
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...
,
Kowloon West and
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 ...
geographical constituencies
In Hong Kong, geographical constituencies, as opposed to functional constituencies, are elected by all eligible voters according to geographically demarcated constituencies. There are currently 5 geographical constituencies in Hong Kong, returni ...
and the
Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency - resulting from the disqualification of six
pro-democrat and
localist camp
Localist camp or localist and self-determination groups refers to the various groups with localist ideologies in Hong Kong. It emerged from post-80s social movements in the late 2000s which centred on the preservation of the city's autono ...
Legislative Council members over the
2016 oath-taking controversy.
The by-election for the two other seats was not held due to pending legal appeals by the two disqualified legislators.
The pro-democrats and
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 ...
each won two seats in the election. Independent democrat
Au Nok-hin replaced
Demosistō
Demosistō () was a pro-democracy political organisation established on 10 April 2016 as a political party. It was led by Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow – former leaders of Scholarism, along with Nathan Law, former secretary-general of the ...
's
Agnes Chow
Agnes Chow Ting ( zh, 周庭; born 3 December 1996) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. She is a former member of the Standing Committee of Demosisto and former spokesperson of Scholarism. Her candidacy for the March 2018 Hong Kong ...
- whose candidacy was rejected before the election - won in Hong Kong Island, and the
Neo Democrats'
Gary Fan retook his seat in New Territories East, while pro-Beijing nonpartisan
Tony Tse, who was defeated in his
2016 re-election bid, regained the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape seat, and
Vincent Cheng of the
(DAB) caused an upset in Kowloon West by narrowly defeating independent democrat
Yiu Chung-yim
Edward Yiu Chung-yim (; born 19 July 1964) is a Hong Kong academic, scholar and former politician who is currently an associate professor of property at the University of Auckland Business School. He is a former member of the Legislative Council ...
who lost his seat in the oath-taking controversy, making it the first time the pro-Beijing camp received a greater vote share than the pro-democrats in a geographical constituency since 2000 and the first time a pro-Beijing candidate won in a geographical constituency by-election since 1992.
The vote share of the pro-democracy camp dropped significantly from the traditional level of around 55 per cent to only 47 per cent, with a low turnout of 43 per cent. As a result, the pro-Beijing camp maintained its dominance in the geographical constituencies following the oath-taking disqualification with a one-seat majority.
Background
The
2016 Legislative Council election saw the emergence of the newly founded
localist camp
Localist camp or localist and self-determination groups refers to the various groups with localist ideologies in Hong Kong. It emerged from post-80s social movements in the late 2000s which centred on the preservation of the city's autono ...
legislators elected to the Legislative Council, including
Sixtus Leung
Sixtus "Baggio" Leung Chung-hang (; born 7 August 1986) is a Hong Kong activist and politician. He is the convenor of Youngspiration, a localist political group in Hong Kong that leans towards Hong Kong independence, and is also leader and ...
and
Yau Wai-ching
Regine Yau Wai-ching (; born 6 May 1991) is a former Hong Kong politician and former member of the localist camp Youngspiration. She was elected to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong as a member for Kowloon West in the 2016 Legislative C ...
of the
pro-independence Youngspiration, as well as
Nathan Law of the
Demosistō
Demosistō () was a pro-democracy political organisation established on 10 April 2016 as a political party. It was led by Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow – former leaders of Scholarism, along with Nathan Law, former secretary-general of the ...
and nonpartisans
Lau Siu-lai
Lau Siu-lai (; born 3 August 1976) is a Hong Kong educator, academic, activist, and politician. She is a sociology lecturer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Hong Kong Community College and the founder of Democracy Groundwork and Age ...
and
Eddie Chu
Eddie Chu Hoi-dick (; born 29 September 1977) is a Hong Kong social activist and politician. He is a member of the Local Action and founder of the Land Justice League which are involved in conservation and environmental movements. He is kno ...
who ran under the banner of the "democratic self-determination".
On 12 October 2016 the inaugural meeting of LegCo, Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching used the oath-taking ceremony as a platform to protest, by claiming that "as a member of the Legislative Council, I shall pay earnest efforts in keeping guard over the interests of the Hong Kong nation," displaying a "Hong Kong is not China" banner, and mispronouncing "People’s Republic of China" as "people’s re-fucking of
Chee-na". Their oath were invalidated by the clerk and the controversy caused a huge backlash among the Hong Kong public.
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 ...
Leung Chun-ying
Leung Chun-ying ( zh, t=梁振英; born 12 August 1954), also known as CY Leung, is a Hong Kong politician and chartered surveyor who has served as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Confe ...
and
Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen took the unprecedented step of launching a judicial review seeking the disqualification of the duo.
On 7 November, the
National People's Congress Standing Committee
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. It exercises the powers of the NPC when it is not in s ...
(NPCSC) controversially interpreted Article 104 of the
Basic Law of Hong Kong
The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). With nine chapters, 160 article ...
to "clarify" the requirements that the legislators need to swear allegiance to Hong Kong as part of China when they take office, stating that "who intentionally reads out words which do not accord with the wording of the oath prescribed by law, or takes the oath in a manner which is not sincere or not solemn" should be barred from taking their public office and cannot retake the oath. As a consequence, the
High Court disqualified Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching on 15 November. On 25 August 2017, the
Court of Final Appeal rejected a final bid by Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-ching.
On 2 December, Leung Chun-ying and Rimsky Yuen lodged another judicial review against Nathan Law, Lau Siu-lai,
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 ...
and
Yiu Chung-yim
Edward Yiu Chung-yim (; born 19 July 1964) is a Hong Kong academic, scholar and former politician who is currently an associate professor of property at the University of Auckland Business School. He is a former member of the Legislative Council ...
who also added words into or changed their tones when reading the oaths during the ceremony. As a result, the High Court ruled the four pro-democracy legislators were to lose their seats on 14 July 2017.
The government announced the date of the by-election for four of the six constituencies would be on 11 March 2018.
Nevertheless, the by-elections of the other seat in Kowloon West and New Territories East after the disqualification of Lau Siu-lai and Leung Kwok-hung would not be held as the duo are seeking for appeal. Lau and Leung were seeking for appeals strategically to avoid the by-election of both two seats in Kowloon West and New Territories East to be held together, which would give pro-Beijing camp the advantage to take at least one seat away from the pro-democrats in each constituency.
Pro-democracy primary
In order to maximise the chance of pro-democracy camp, the
Power for Democracy initiated a co-ordination of the pro-democracy candidates in elections. It held a primary in Kowloon West and New Territories East, where more than one pro-democrats were interested in running from December 2017 to January 2018. The primary was conducted in three parts: telephone polls, a generic ballot vote on 14 January 2018 and voting by parties and civil groups that participated in the primary. The first two parts counted for 45 per cent each, and the last part counted for 10 per cent in the final result.
In Kowloon West, the candidates were
Frederick Fung of the
Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL),
Ramon Yuen of the
Democratic Party, Occupy activist
Ken Tsang and disqualified legislator
Yiu Chung-yim
Edward Yiu Chung-yim (; born 19 July 1964) is a Hong Kong academic, scholar and former politician who is currently an associate professor of property at the University of Auckland Business School. He is a former member of the Legislative Council ...
, which Tsang subsequently withdrew from the primary to support Yiu; in New Territories East, the candidates were
Gary Fan of the
Neo Democrats,
Kwok Wing-kin of the
Labour Party and former president of the
Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...
Students' Union
Tommy Cheung.
Primary results
More than 26,000 registered voters cast their ballots in the 14 January primary, 12,438 of which turned out at the three polling stations in Kowloon West and 13,699 turned out for at five polling stations in New Territories East. Yiu Chung-yim and Gary Fan received the most votes in the generic votes as well as the overall scores in the primary, becoming the pro-democracy representatives in the Kowloon West and New Territories East by-election respectively.
After the primary, Frederick Fung, ranked the second in the primary, announced that he was under pressure to withdraw as a backup candidacy as agreed in the primary if Yiu Chung-yim was disqualified by the Electoral Affair Commission. "Someone from the progressive democracy bloc told me that if I ran in the poll, they would definitely send someone as well
o challenge me” Fung said. “I hope my withdrawal will allow the hatred to dissipate." Progressive democrat legislator Eddie Chu, who earlier commented on facebook warning Fung's chance of winning as voters might refuse to vote for him and therefore the camp should not blindly abide by the agreement, denied he had been the one pressuring Fung to withdraw.
Candidates' disqualification controversy
Agnes Chow
Agnes Chow Ting ( zh, 周庭; born 3 December 1996) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. She is a former member of the Standing Committee of Demosisto and former spokesperson of Scholarism. Her candidacy for the March 2018 Hong Kong ...
, Demosistō standing committee member, emerged as the party's and the pro-democrats' sole candidate in the Hong Kong Island by-election after Nathan Law's girlfriend
Tiffany Yuen reportedly declined to run. Chow fulfilled the age limit of 21 after her 21st birthday on 3 December 2017. She officially announced her candidacy on 14 January 2018. On 27 January, her candidacy was invalidated by the returning officer as she claimed that "the candidate cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the relevant electoral laws, since advocating or promoting 'self-determination' is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make to uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the
ong Kong Special Administrative Region" The
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
issued a statement warning that banning Chow from the by-election "risks diminishing Hong Kong’s international reputation as a free and open society". The pro-democracy camp supported its backup candidate
Au Nok-hin running on behalf of Chow.
Yiu Chung-yim
Edward Yiu Chung-yim (; born 19 July 1964) is a Hong Kong academic, scholar and former politician who is currently an associate professor of property at the University of Auckland Business School. He is a former member of the Legislative Council ...
, who was rumoured that his candidacy could be foiled on the basis of National People's Congress Standing Committee interpretation of the Basic Law being applied to the entire term of the current legislature, survived the disqualification. Ramon Yuen, who became the backup candidate after the runner-up in the pro-democracy primary Frederick Fung declared he would not be the backup candidate, initially submitted his nomination amid the rumours, withdrew his candidacy hours afterward after Yiu's candidacy was validated by the returning officer on the last day of the nomination period on 29 January.
The candidacies of two other localists,
Sha Tin District Councillor James Chan Kwok-keung and convenor of the
Shatin Community Network
The Shatin Community Network ( zh, t=沙田社區網絡) is a localist political group in Hong Kong. It was formed by a group of Sha Tin residents and former member of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Local Society was inspired by 2014 Oc ...
Ventus Lau Wing-hong who ran in the New Territories East, were also disqualified by the returning officer Amy Chan Yuen-man on the grounds that they had advocated Hong Kong independence, even though Lau had earlier made a declaration suggesting he no longer supported the idea. Chan also claimed that he was never an independence advocate but an advocate of "communism out of Hong Kong."
Validated candidates
Hong Kong Island
*
Judy Chan Ka-pui, member of the
New People's Party and
Southern District Council declared her candidacy on 15 January 2018. She was supported by the pro-Beijing
(DAB) and the
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 ...
(FTU).
*
Au Nok-hin, member of the Southern District Council, former member of the
Democratic Party and former convenor of the
Civil Human Rights Front was the representative for the pro-democracy camp after the initial candidate
Agnes Chow
Agnes Chow Ting ( zh, 周庭; born 3 December 1996) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. She is a former member of the Standing Committee of Demosisto and former spokesperson of Scholarism. Her candidacy for the March 2018 Hong Kong ...
of
Demosistō
Demosistō () was a pro-democracy political organisation established on 10 April 2016 as a political party. It was led by Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow – former leaders of Scholarism, along with Nathan Law, former secretary-general of the ...
was disqualified. A candidate for the
2016 Legislative Council election in
Wholesale and Retail constituency, Au had earlier quit the Democratic Party "to pursue his own political beliefs" and ran as an independent democrat.
*
Edward Yum Liang-hsien, former
League of Social Democrats
The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...
(LSD) and
People Power member, also declared his candidacy in the election.
* Ng Dick-hay, spokesman of the pro-Beijing activist group Defend Hong Kong Campaign also ran in the election as a nonpartisan.
Kowloon West
*
Vincent Cheng Wing-shun,
Sham Shui Po District Councillor and member of the
(DAB) became the party's candidate after defeating
Yau Tsim Mong District Council chairman Chris Ip Ngo-tung in an intra-party selection.
*
Yiu Chung-yim
Edward Yiu Chung-yim (; born 19 July 1964) is a Hong Kong academic, scholar and former politician who is currently an associate professor of property at the University of Auckland Business School. He is a former member of the Legislative Council ...
, initially a member of the Legislative Council for Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape who was disqualified over the
oath-taking controversy became the pro-democracy representative in the election after defeating Frederick Fung and Ramon Yuen in the pro-democracy primary in January 2018.
* Jonathan Tsoi Tung-chau, physiotherapist and a former member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong also submitted his candidacy.
New Territories East
*
Tang Ka-piu
Bill Tang Ka-piu (, born 29 October 1979) is a Hong Kong politician who currently served as a legislative councillor and district councillor (2007–2019).
Political career Legislative Council
He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hon ...
,
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 ...
(FTU) member, member of the
Islands District Council, former
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 ...
member for the
Labour functional constituency and
2016 Legislative Council candidate for New Territories East, joined the
(DAB) ahead of the election to represent the whole pro-Beijing camp.
*
Gary Fan Kwok-wai, member of
Neo Democrats and
Sai Kung District Council
The Sai Kung District Council () is the district council of Hong Kong, district council for the Sai Kung District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Sai Kung District Council currently consists of 32 members, of which the district ...
and former Legislative Councillor from 2012 to 2016, stood in the pro-democracy primary against Kwok Wing-kin and Tommy Cheung. He emerged as the pro-democracy representative after winning the primary in January 2018.
* Estella "Jenny" Chan Yuk-ngor, a pro-Beijing activist who ran against the pro-democracy candidates in the 2016 election again submitted her candidacy in the election.
*
Christine Fong Kwok-shan, a Sai Kung District Councillor and 2008, 2012,
2016 by-election and general election candidate in which she failed to get elected with a margin of 51 votes in her last attempt, ran in the constituency for the fifth time under the banner of "Livelihood First".
* Joyce Chiu Pui-yuk, a Christian activist and member of the Family School SODO (Sexual Orientation Discrimination Ordinance) Concern Group, also ran in the election.
*
Wong Sing-chi
Nelson Wong Sing-chi (born 11 October 1957) is a Hong Kong politician and social worker. He had been member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong between 2000–04 and 2008–12. He was the founding member of the Democratic Party before he ...
, former Democratic Party Legislative Council member for New Territories East from 2000 to 2004 and from 2008 to 2012 and a former
Third Side member who ran in the 2016 by-election in New Territories East and general election in the
Social Welfare
Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance p ...
functional constituency, also stood in the election.
Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape
*
Tony Tse Wai-chuen, member of Legislative Council for Architectural, Surveying and Planning from 2012 to 2016 who lost to Yiu Chung-yim due to more than one pro-Beijing candidates splitting the votes in the 2016 re-election, intended to retake his seat.
*
Paul Zimmerman, Southern District Councillor and member of the
Election Committee
The Election Committee is the electoral college in Hong Kong that selects the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, elects 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong which states ...
Architectural, Surveying, Planning & Landscape Subsector, announced his candidacy as an independent democrat under the banner of "CoVision" on 14 January 2018.
Results
Some 904,000 of 2.1 million registered voters in the four constituencies cast their ballots with the turnout rate of 43 per cent, 15 per cent lower than the
2016 general election. The pro-democrats underperformed in the poll, which saw their vote share dropping significantly from the traditional 55 per cent to only 47 per cent. The result in the
Kowloon West constituency was a surprise reversal as
Vincent Cheng of the
(DAB) narrowly defeated pro-democrat independent
Yiu Chung-yim
Edward Yiu Chung-yim (; born 19 July 1964) is a Hong Kong academic, scholar and former politician who is currently an associate professor of property at the University of Auckland Business School. He is a former member of the Legislative Council ...
by a margin of 1.1 per cent. Yiu requested a recount at 5am but only confirmed his defeat in the constituency, which made it the first time the pro-Beijing camp received greater vote share than the pro-democrats in a geographical constituency since the
2000 Legislative Council election in
Kowloon East where DAB's
Chan Yuen-han and
Chan Kam-lam topped the poll with a margin of 2.1 per cent compared to the
Democratic Party's
Szeto Wah
Szeto Wah (; 28 February 1931 – 2 January 2011) was a Hong Kong democracy activist and politician. He was the founding chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the Hong Kong Professional Teac ...
and
Fred Li. It was also the first time a pro-Beijing candidate won in a geographical constituency by-election since the
1992 New Territories West by-election. Prior to that, the pro-democrats had never lost in a
single-member district
A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders.
In some countries, such as Australia and India ...
direct election in the SAR period. It also continued the pro-Beijing dominance in the geographical constituencies after the oath-taking disqualification with a one-seat majority.
Hong Kong Island
Kowloon West
New Territories East
Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape
Aftermath
On 13 March 2018, businessman Wong Tai-hoi of the Taxi Drivers & Operators Association accompanied by former legislator
Wong Kwok-hing of the
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 ...
(FTU) lodged a judicial review application challenging Au Nok-hin and returning officer Anne Teng Yu-yan, who approved Au’s candidacy to run in the by-election, claiming that Au was ineligible to run because he burned a copy of the
Basic Law
A basic law is either a codified constitution, or in countries with uncodified constitutions, a law designed to have the effect of a constitution. The term ''basic law'' is used in some places as an alternative to "constitution" and may be inte ...
during a protest against Beijing’s interpretation of the Basic Law over the oath-taking controversy on 2 November 2016. The application was however rejected by the court on 29 March.
In September 2019,
Court of First Instance
A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually heard by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). ...
Judge Anderson Chow overturned the returning officers' decision to disqualify Agnes Chow and Ventus Lau in the by-elections respectively, on the basis of that the disqualified candidates were not given any reasonable opportunity to respond to the returning officers' questions which led to their ineligibility. The decisions meant that the winners of the Hong Kong Island and New Territories East, Au Nok-hin and Gary Fan, were not duly elected and therefore lost their seats. Au and Fan appealed to the
High Court but was refused to be heard on the ground that the duo had no appeal basis.
See also
*
2010 Hong Kong by-election
*
Hong Kong LegCo candidates' disqualification controversy
*
2018 Kowloon West by-election
*
List of Hong Kong by-elections
*
2016 New Territories East by-election
References
External links
2018 Legislative Council by-election Official WebsiteElectoral Affairs Commission Official Website
{{By-elections to the HK Legco
2018 elections in China
2018 in Hong Kong
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
March 2018 in China