The 2021 Election Committee subsector elections were held on 19 September 2021 for elected seats of the 1,500 members 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 ...

(EC) which is responsible for electing 40 of the 90 seats in 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 ...

(LegCo) in the 2021 election and the

Chief Executive of Hong Kong The chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of Governor of ...

(CE) in the 2022 election. Based on the new electoral framework imposed by the Beijing government, the composition of the Election Committee is drastically changed, seeing its size increasing from 1,200 to 1,500, with a sizeable number of new seats being nominated and elected by government-appointed and Beijing-controlled organisations, replacing a total number of 117 seats of District Council subsectors which would have been controlled by 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 ...

due to the electoral landslide in the 2019 District Council election. It was widely seen as Beijing's latest move to further curb the influence of the pro-democrats who were able to win more than a quarter of the total seats in the last election in 2016 and its following electoral success in the wake of the widespread anti-government protests of 2019. Under the new system, the registered voters for the Election Committee dropped by almost 97 per cent, sharply declining from 246,440 voters in 2016 to only 7,891 voters in 2021. Only 13 of the 36 electable subsectors had a contested race, equal to around a quarter of the Election Committee seats involving 412 candidates and about 4,800 eligible voters, while the majority of the seats were either ''ex officio'', nominated by special interest groups or elected uncontestedly. With pro-democrats being purged before the election, the Election Committee was tightly controlled by the

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 ...

with effectively no opposition presence.

Background

2016–2017 electoral cycle

Despite the unique design of the

(EC) being deeply in favour of the pro-Beijing and pro-business interests, the pro-democrats were able to pocketed more than one-eighth of seats to nominate

Civic Party The Civic Party (CP) was a pro-democracy camp, pro-democracy liberalism in Hong Kong, liberal political party from March 2006 to May 2023 in Hong Kong. The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Article 45 Concern Group, Basic Law Ar ...

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 Democratic Party's Albert Ho into the Chief Executive race in 2007 and 2012 respectively. In the 2016 Election Committee Subsector elections, the pro-democrats launched the "Democrats 300+" campaign, aiming at winning more than 300 seats in order to nominate an alternative candidate against incumbent Chief Executive

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 ...

. As a result, the pro-democrats took a record quarter of the seat in the elections, with the help of the landslide victories in the Second Sector of professions, the traditional pro-democracy stronghold, despite Leung Chun-ying announced that he would not seek for a second term two days before the Election Committee elections. The pro-democrats supported former

Financial Secretary Financial secretary is an administrative and executive government position within the governance of a state, corporation, private or public organization, small group or other body with financial assets. A financial secretary oversees policy con ...

John Tsang John Tsang Chun-wah, GBM, JP (; born Mui; born 21 April 1951) is a Hong Kong former senior civil servant and government official who was the longest-serving Financial Secretary of Hong Kong SAR to date, from 2007 to 2017. Born in Hong Kong ...

and former judge

Woo Kwok-hing Woo Kwok-hing, GBS, CBE, QC (; born 13 January 1946) is a Hong Kong retired judge. He was the vice-president of the Court of Appeal of the High Court and former chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) and commissioner on Interc ...

against Beijing-favoured

Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022, after serving as Chief Secretary for Administration for five years. After g ...

, former

Chief Secretary for Administration The chief secretary for administration is the second-highest government official in Hong Kong, right after the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. When the chief executive is on leave, the chief secretary for administration will act on their behalf ...

, making the 2017 Chief Executive election fairly competitive.

2021 NPC electoral reform

In the summer of 2019, the Carrie Lam administration pushed for the extradition bill triggered the unprecedented waves of anti-government protests in the latter half of the year. In the November District Council election, the pro-democrats won a historic electoral landslide by winning more than 80 per cent of the seats, seizing control of 17 of the 18 District Councils as a result. Due to the bloc voting system in the Election Committee, it would mean that the pro-democrats could take all of the 117 seats of the District Council seats in the upcoming Election Committee elections and increase their bargaining power in picking the next Chief Executive. To thwart opposition momentum and neutralise the pro-democracy movement, the Carrie Lam administration unprecedentedly invoked the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to postpone the September 2020 Legislative Council election, citing the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In March 2021, the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

(NPC), China's national legislature, unveiled the plan to drastically rewrite the electoral system for the Chief Executive, the Election Committee and the Legislative Council, claiming the necessity to ensure "patriots governing in Hong Kong" as the basis of further curbing the pro-democracy influence in the coming elections.

New electoral system

Comparison of the 2016 and 2020 composition of the Election Committee

Under the amended Annex I 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 ...

passed by 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) on 30 March 2021, the size of the

(EC) would be increased from 1,200 to 1,500 seats, with an additional 300-seat Fifth Sector to be added to the existing four sectors of 300 seats each. According to the amendment of the Annex II, the newly elected Election Committee would also be responsible for electing 40 of the 90 seats of the redesigned Legislative Council, shrinking the directly elected seats from 35 to 20 seats. The seats of the traditional strongholds of the pro-democrats in the Second Sector of professions, including Education and Social Welfare subsectors, would be halved. The original Education and Higher Education subsectors which had 30 seats each would be merged into a 30-seat subsector, while Medical and Health Services subsectors which had 30 seats each would also be merged into a 30-seat subsector. Some of the seats in the other pro-democratic strongholds would also be nominated rather than elected. For instances, half of 30 members of the newly created Technology and Innovation subsector would be nominated from among Hong Kong academicians of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

and the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences a ...

; while 15 of the 30-seat Accountancy subsector would be nominated from among Hong Kong accounting advisers appointed by the Chinese Ministry of Finance; nine seats in the Legal subsector would be nominated from the council of the China Law Society. Up to half of the seats from the subsectors of Engineering, Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape, Education, Medical and Health Services, and Social Welfare would be elected by associations instead of individuals. In the Fourth Sector, all of the 117-seat Hong Kong and Kowloon and New Territories District Councils subsectors on the committee which would be held by the pro-democrats would be eliminated, they would be replaced by "representatives of members of area committees", including members of the government-appointed District Fight Crime Committees and the District Fire Safety Committee of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories who are appointed by the Director of Home Affairs under the

Home Affairs Department The Home Affairs Department is an executive agency in the government of Hong Kong responsible for internal affairs of the territory. It reports to the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, headed by the Secretary for Home Affairs. Purpose The d ...

, as well as representatives of the pro-Beijing associations of Hong Kong residents in the mainland. Additionally, a new 300-seat Fifth Sector would consist of the 190 seats including the Hong Kong deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), as well as 110 seats comprising representatives of "Hong Kong members of relevant national organisations". Under the amended annexes, a Candidate Eligibility Review Committee would be set up to vet the qualifications of candidates, based on the approval of the Hong Kong Committee for Safeguarding National Security according to the review by the National Security Department of the

Hong Kong Police Force The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong. Pursuant to the one c ...

(HKPF) of which its decision would be final and could not be appealed. Under the new system, the registered voters for the Election Committee dropped by almost 97 per cent, sharply declining from 246,440 voters in 2016 to only 7,891 voters in 2021. The Education subsector remained the largest electorates with 1,725 voters, but was also drastically dropped from more than 80,000 voters in the last election. More than half of the 30 seats would also be held by ''ex officio'' members, instead of being directly elected. There were also 404 bodies registered as "grassroots organisations" for the newly created Grassroots Associations subsector, but some entities such as the Modern Mummy Group, Tai Kok Tsui Friends, and the Chinese Arts Papercutting Association were little known to the public, and were reportedly all satellite organisations of the pro-Beijing New Territories Association of Societies.

Nominations

In the nomination period from 6 to 12 August, the Electoral Affairs Commission received a total of 1,016 individual nominations, competing for 967 seats in 36 subsectors. The remaining 533 seats would be nominated by the designated organisations and by ''ex officio'' members. Among the 1,016 nominations, 603 of those were returned uncontested. Only 413 candidates who were running in the 13 of the 36 electable subsectors would have a contested race, equal to around a quarter of the Election Committee seats. On 26 August 2021,

John Lee, who also chaired the newly established Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, announced that the invalidation of the registration application of the only

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 Cheng Chung-tai who was supposedly an ''ex officio'' member in the Election Committee.

Pierre Chan Pierre Chan Pui-yin (born 18 August 1976) is a Hong Kong medical doctor and politician. Chan was elected in the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election through the Medical functional constituency. Early life Chan was born in Hong Kong ...

, the remaining non-establishment legislator along with Cheng, did not register as ''ex officio'' member. As a result, all but two nominated candidates were from the pro-Beijing camp: moderate party

Third Side Third Side ( zh, t=新思維, l=new thinking) is a political party in Hong Kong which claims to offer a "third road" to democracy, positioned between the pro-democracy camp and the pro-Beijing camp. It is led by Tik Chi-yuen, who was a co-foun ...

founder Tik Chi-yuen and pro-democracy

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 ...

chairperson Francis Chau. Jason Poon, another moderate construction company owner who blew the whistle on the 2018

MTR The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...

Sha Tin to Central Link The Sha Tin to Central Link (abbreviated SCL; ) was an expansion project of the MTR public transport network in Hong Kong. It was divided into two sections and expanded the network’s Passenger rail terminology#Heavy rail, heavy rail lines. ...

construction scandal, failed to be nominated through Religious subsector after drawing lots.

Election results

The voting atmosphere in the city was down as 99.9 per cent of Hong Kong voters in legislative election were ineligible to vote in Election Committee elections. The security was tight as the number of deployed police officers outweighed number of voters, about 6,000 police deployed on standby for an election participated by only 4,800 voters. The election, with the record turnout of 89.77 per cent, was a big win for pro-Beijing camp as expected, winning all but one seats. Tik Chi-yuen was the only non-establishment elected member only after drawing lots due to same number of votes with another candidate. The

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

(DAB) continued their domination in the camp, claiming to have won more than 150 seats. 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) ranked the second with 76 seats, and Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) coming next with at least 40 seats, while the New People's Party and the

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 ...

said to have 21 and more than 15 seats respectively. As some candidates did not reveal their party affiliation, the numbers from the parties could not be verified. The vote count soon emerged as controversy for consuming 14 hours although there are only 4,389 ballots, much slower than previous elections. The

Electoral Affairs Commission The Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) is the body, established under the Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance, that oversees electoral matters in Hong Kong. Its main functions include considering or reviewing the boundaries of Legislativ ...

apologised for the clumsiness. Some pro-Beijing politicians and parties, including the Chief Executive, demanded the Commission to explain and review the process.

Results by subsector

Statistics are generated from th
official election website

Results by affiliation

, - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=3 rowspan=2 , Affiliation ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , 1st Sector ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , 2nd Sector ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , 3rd Sector ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , 4th Sector ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , 5th Sector ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Total , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Standing ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Elected ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Standing ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Elected ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Standing ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Elected ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Standing ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Elected ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Standing ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Elected ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Standing ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Elected , - , rowspan="13" style="background-color:pink" , , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 7 , , 7 , 2 , , 2 , 9 , , 9 , 43 , , 42 , 5 , , 5 , 66 , , 65 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, - , , - , - , , - , 50 , , 46 , 9 , , 9 , 1 , , 1 , 60 , , 56 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , New People's Party/

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 ...

, 3 , , 3 , - , , - , - , , - , 7 , , 7 , - , , - , 10 , , 10 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions , - , , - , - , , - , 15 , , 9 , - , , , - , , - , 15 , , 9 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 5 , , 5 , - , , - , - , , - , 2 , , 2 , - , , - , 7 , , 7 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong , - , , - , - , , - , 1 , , 1 , 2 , , 2 , 3 , , 3 , 6 , , 6 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Path of Democracy , - , , - , 2 , , 2 , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , 2 , , 2 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Federation of Public Housing Estates , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , 2 , , 2 , - , , - , 2 , , 2 , - , width=1px style="background-color: #79F31D" , , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council , - , , - , 1 , , 1 , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , 1 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers , - , , - , 1 , , 1 , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , 1 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: #B22030" , , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Senior Government Officers Association , - , , - , - , , - , 1 , , 1 , - , , - , - , , - , 1 , , 1 , - , width=1px style="background-color: #D13634" , , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association , 1 , , 0 , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , 1 , , 0 , - , width=1px style="background-color:" , , style="text-align:left;" , Pro-Beijing independents , 285 , , 281 , 162 , , 135 , 172 , , 170 , 123 , , 120 , 102 , , 102 , 844 , , 808 , - style="background-color:pink" , colspan=3 style="text-align:left;" , Total for pro-Beijing camp , 301 , , 296 , 168 , , 141 , 248 , , 236 , 187 , , 183 , 110 , , 110 , 1,014 , , 966 , - , style="background-color:Lightgrey" rowspan="2" , , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

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

Independent democrat In U.S. politics, an independent Democrat is an individual who loosely identifies with the ideals of the Democratic Party but chooses not to be a formal member of the party (chooses to be an independent) or is denied the Democratic nomination in ...

, - , , - , 1 , , 0 , - , , - , - , , - , - , , - , 1 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3", Total , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 301 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 296 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 170 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 142 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 248 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 236 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 187 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 183 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 110 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 110 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 1,016 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 967 Note: There are two candidates have dual membership of the

(DAB) and the

(FTU).

Notes

References

External links

2021 Election Committee Subsector Ordinary Elections Official Website
{{Hong Kong elections, state=expanded E E E 2021 elections in China E September 2021 in China