Kowloon West is the western part of
Kowloon
Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...
, covering the
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 ...
and
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 ...
, with
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 ...
occasionally included.
History
The boundary of Kowloon West is not strictly defined and hence varies. While traditionally the
Kowloon–Canton Railway
The Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR; ) was a railway network in Hong Kong.Legislative Council information paper CB(1)357/07-08(0 THB(T) CR 8/986/00, CB(1)1749/07-08(0/ref> It was owned and operated by the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation (KC ...
(now the
East Rail line
The East Rail line () is one of the ten lines that form MTR, the rapid transit, mass transit system in Hong Kong. The railway line starts at Lo Wu station, Lo Wu or Lok Ma Chau station, Lok Ma Chau, both of which are Border checkpoint, b ...
) serves as the separation of eastern and western part, the Kowloon City District, located at the east of the railway, was part of the
Kowloon West Legislative Council constituency in order to balance the population between the two halves. Nevertheless, both the
Yau Tsim Mong District
Yau Tsim Mong District is one of 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 districts, at . The 2016 B ...
and
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 ...
have long been regarded as the part of Kowloon West.
West Kowloon
West Kowloon (), named after West Kowloon Reclamation Project as a part of Airport Core Programme, is the western part of Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong, situated within the Yau Tsim Mong District and Sham Shui Po District. The Land reclam ...
, a similar name and sharing similar definition, is also a part of Kowloon West, despite the name usually refers to the reclaimed area located west of the Kowloon Peninsula.
In 1985, "
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 ...
" and "
South Kowloon" electoral-college constituencies were created. Sham Shui Po consisted of
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 ...
while South Kowloon consisted of Mong Kok District and Yau Ma Tei District. The electoral colleges lasted for two terms until they were replaced by the
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 ...
in 1991 when the
first direct election to the Legislative Council were introduced.
In the 1991 election, "
Kowloon West" was consisting of Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok and Yau Tsim Districts, returning two members to the Legislative Council using the
two-seat constituency two vote system. All two seats were won 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 ...
in the electoral landslide, with
United Democrats of Hong Kong
The United Democrats of Hong Kong (; UDHK) was the first political party in Hong Kong. Founded in 1990, the short-lived party was the united front of the liberal democracy forces in preparation of the 1991 first ever direct election for the ...
and
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 ...
gained one each.
The
electoral system was overhauled after one term, replaced by the
single-constituency single-vote system in the
1995 Legislative Council election with four new constituencies, namely "
Kowloon West" and "
Kowloon South-west". All two seats were again won by the pro-democrats.
Following the
handover
In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transf ...
in 1997, the "
Kowloon West" constituency replaced the colonial constituencies, which included the Kowloon City. It remained in place until 2021 under the
change of electoral system, "
Kowloon West" was kept but shrank to the 1991-constituency boundary.
Evolution of constituencies
References
{{Kowloon constituencies for Legislative Council
Constituencies of Hong Kong
Kowloon
Constituencies of Hong Kong Legislative Council