The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
that supports increased democracy, namely the
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...
of the
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 ...
and 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 ...
as given by the
Basic Law under the "
One Country, Two Systems" framework.
The pro-democrats generally embrace
liberal values such as rule of law, human rights, civil liberties and social justice, though their economic positions vary. They are often referred to as the "opposition camp" as they have consistently been the minority camp within the Legislative Council, and because of their non-cooperative and sometimes confrontational stance towards the
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
and
Chinese central governments. Opposite to the pro-democracy camp is the
pro-Beijing camp, whose members are perceived as being supportive of the Beijing and SAR authorities. Since the
1997 handover, the pro-democracy camp has usually received 55 to 60 percent of the votes in each election, but has always received less than half of the 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 ...
due to the
indirectly elected elements of the legislature.
The pro-democracy activists emerged from the youth movements in the 1970s and began to take part in electoral politics as the colonial government introduced representative democracy in the mid 1980s. The pro-democrats joined hands in pushing for greater democracy both in the transition period and after
handover of Hong Kong in 1997. Many also supported greater democracy in China and the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The relationship between the pro-democrats and the Beijing government turned hostile after Beijing's bloody crackdown on the protest, after which the pro-democrats were labelled as "treasonous". After the
2004 Legislative Council election, the term "pan-democracy camp" (abbreviated "pan-dems") became more commonly used as more allied parties and politicians of varying political ideologies emerged.
In the
2016 Legislative Council election, the camp faced a challenge from the new
localists who emerged after the
Umbrella Revolution and ran under the banner of
self-determination
Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage.
Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...
or
Hong Kong independence. After the election, some localists joined the pro-democrats' caucus, which rebranded itself as the "pro-democracy camp".
The disunity within the camp and the failure of the Umbrella Revolution cost the pro-democrats in the
2018 by-elections. The
2019 anti-extradition movement, however, saw a rebound in popularity for the camp, which contributed to its biggest victory in the history of Hong Kong, gaining control of 17 of the 18 District Councils and more than tripling their seats from 124 to 388 in the
2019 District Council election. In reaction to the political upheaval, the Beijing government further curbed the opposition and the disqualification of four sitting pro-democracy legislators triggered the
resignations of 15 remaining pro-democrats from the legislature, leaving pro-democrats with no representation for the first time since 1998.
Ideology
One of the main goals of the pro-democracy camp is to achieve
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...
of the
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 ...
(CE) and 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) as guaranteed in
Article 45 and Article 68 of the
Basic Law respectively. Since the
National People's Congress Standing Committee's (NPCSC)
31 August 2014 decision, which determined that the Chief Executive candidate would be selected by a highly restrictive nominating committee and was seen as betrayal of the democratic value, some democrats have raised the question of the
right to self-determination. However, the mainstream pro-democrats retained their support for a highly autonomous Hong Kong under the "
One Country, Two Systems" framework, as promised by the Basic Law.
The pro-democrats generally embrace
liberal values such as rule of law, human rights, civil liberties, and social justice, though their economic positions vary. Some pro-democrats position themselves as more
pro-labour while most pro-democrats believe in a more
meritocratic
Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods or political power are vested in individual people based on ability and talent, rather than ...
or
egalitarian
Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all h ...
society. The pro-democracy camp generally supports the
Chinese democracy movement, which can be traced back to their support for the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Many of the pro-democrats have been calling for the end of
one party rule of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
and therefore are seen as a threat by the Beijing authorities. The camp's support for more liberal democracy is seen as unacceptable by the Beijing government. In some cases, pan-democracy activists have been labeled
traitors to China.
The pro-democrats are also divided by their approach for achieving democracy: the moderate democrats, represented by the
Democratic Party and the
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 o ...
(ADPL), believe in dialogue with Beijing and Hong Kong governments over struggle, while radical democrats such as the League of Social Democrats and the
People Power believe in street actions and mass movements. There have been severe conflicts and distrust between the two factions and a great split after the
constitutional reform voting in 2010, where the Democratic Party negotiated with the Beijing representatives and supported the modified reform proposal and was thus seen as a betrayal by the radical democrats.
History
Early development
Members of the camp include social workers and social activists emerged from the 1970s youth movements. Many of them grouped themselves as the "social action faction", competing against the pro-Communist
Maoists in whom they disagreed with their ultra-nationalist and radical Maoist stances. Although claiming to be patriotic and launching the
defend the Diaoyu Islands movement, the "social action faction" dedicated themselves into the local social issues in Hong Kong. They fought for the social inequality and livelihood issues, including the anti-corruption movement and Chinese Language movement and so forth. In the early 1980s when the question of Hong Kong sovereignty emerged, many of them supported a democratic autonomous Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty, notably the
Meeting Point which was founded in January 1983 which became the first political group to publicly support the Chinese sovereignty of Hong Kong.
After the
Sino-British Joint Declaration
The Sino-British Joint Declaration was a treaty between the governments of the United Kingdom and People's Republic of China signed in 1984 setting the conditions in which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and for the governance o ...
, the pro-democrats began to join hands to demand further democracy before and after 1997. In 1986, a number of political groups, activists, professionals and politicians joined hand under the banner of the
Joint Committee on the Promotion of Democratic Government (JCPDG) demanding for
1988 direct elections for 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 ...
and earlier
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...
for the
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 ...
and Legislative Council after 1997, as presented in the proposal of the
Group of 190.
Their arch rival at the time was the
Group of 89, a group of conservative business and professional elites in the
Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Basic Law Drafting Committee (BLDC) was formed in June 1985 for the drafts of the Hong Kong Basic Law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) after 1997. It was formed as a working gro ...
(HKBLDC) and
Hong Kong Basic Law Consultative Committee (HKBLCC). They generally opposed the British colonial administration and its perceived "
kowtowing" to the Beijing government over the issues such as constitutional reform, direct elections, civic rights and
Daya Bay Nuclear Plant.
The pro-democrats maintained a relatively warm relationship with the Beijing government during the 1980s, as many of the pro-democrats supported the Chinese sovereignty in Hong Kong and the "high degree of autonomy" as ensured in the Sino-British Joint Declaration. They also saw the ideal of Hong Kong helping in China's
Four Modernisations.
The Beijing authorities also viewed the pro-democrats as the targets of the
united front. Barrister
Martin Lee
Martin Lee Chu-ming (; born 8 June 1938) is a Hong Kong politician and barrister. He is the founding chairman of the United Democrats of Hong Kong and its successor, the Democratic Party (Hong Kong), Democratic Party, Hong Kong's flagship Pr ...
and educator
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 ...
, president of the
Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, who were also the two most visible pro-democracy leaders, were appointed members of the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee in 1985 by Beijing.
The pro-democrats also participated in electoral politics as direct elections were introduced in local levels in the 1980s, namely the
District Boards,
Urban Council
The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...
and
Regional Council. Among them, the Meeting Point formed in 1983, the
Hong Kong Affairs Society in 1985 and
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 o ...
in 1986 became the three major pro-democratic groups and formed a strategic alliance in the
1988 District Board elections, which laid the foundation of the pro-democracy grassroots supports.
Tiananmen protests and last colonial years
The consolidation of its public support has its roots in opposition to the
1989 Tiananmen crackdown which aroused widespread horror, sympathy and support of the protesters by Hong Kong citizens.
[Wing-kai Chiu, Stephen. Lui, Tai-Lok. The Dynamics of Social Movement in Hong Kong. 000(2000). Hong Kong University Press. .] The pro-democrats, who were heavily involved in the protests and formed the
(ADSPDMC or Alliance), were seen as "treason" and threat to the Beijing government. The two pro-democracy Basic Law Drafting Committee members, Martin Lee and Szeto Wah, were stripped from the office after they resigned in protest of the bloody crackdown, many of other pro-democrats were denied entry to the Mainland China since. Since 1989, the Alliance organise
annual candlelight vigil for the June 4 crackdown at the
Victoria Park, Hong Kong, which draw thousands of people every year. Ahead of the
first direct election to the Legislative Council in 1991, around 600 democracy activists co-founded the first major pro-democracy party, the
United Democrats of Hong Kong.
The electoral alliance of United Democrats of Hong Kong and Meeting Point, together with other smaller political parties, groups and independents, won a historical landslide victory in the 1991 election, took 17 out of the 18 geographical constituency seats. The pro-democrats were often considered strategic allies of
Chris Patten, the last
colonial governor who proposed a
much progressive democratic reform in the last years before the
handover of Hong Kong, despite Beijing's strong opposition. The Democrats supported Patten's proposal for the
1995 Legislative Council election. However,
Emily Lau's full-scale direct election amendment was not passed as a result of Meeting Point's abstaining from voting for Emily Lau, which caused harsh criticism from the radical democrats and the
United Ants.
In 1994, the United Democrats and the Meeting Point merged into the
Democratic Party, which won another landslide victory in the 1995 election, taking 19 seats in total, far ahead of other parties. Together with other democratic parties and individuals including Emily Lau,
Lee Cheuk-yan and
Leung Yiu-chung
Leung Yiu-chung (, born 19 May 1953) is a Hong Kong politician. He is a member of the pro-labour Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre, which is a part of the pan-democracy camp. He has had a long-standing tenure as a member of the Legi ...
who later formed
The Frontier in 1996 and
Christine Loh who formed the
Citizens Party in 1997, the pro-democrats gained a thin majority in the legislature for the last two years before 1997.
The Beijing government argued that the electoral reform introduced by Patten had violated the Joint Declaration and thus they no longer felt obliged to honour the promise of a "through train", a plan to keep the 1995 elected legislature into post-handover SAR era. A parallel Legislative Council, the
Provisional Legislative Council, was formed in 1996 under the control of the Pro-Beijing camp, this became the Legislative Council upon the founding of the new SAR government in 1997, in which the pro-democrats except for the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood boycotted it, deeming it as unconstitutional.
Handover to China and 1 July 2003 protest
All of its members, except the
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 o ...
, declined to join the extralegal Provisional Legislative Council installed by the government of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, and were ousted from the territory's legislature for a year until the 1998 election. Starting from the 1998 election, since the
plurality electoral system was changed to
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
, compounded with the restoration of corporate votes in the functional constituencies, and replacement of broad-based functional constituencies with traditional ones, the number of seats of the camp dipped, albeit having similar share of vote. Within the camp, share of smaller parties and independents increased relatively, with the share of the Democratic Party falling from around two-thirds in 1995 to less than a half by 2004.
The pro-democracy camp was the strong opposition to the
national security and anti-subversion legislation of the
Basic Law Article 23 and they successfully called for
over 500,000 people to protest on 1 July 2003 against the legislation, the largest demonstration since the handover.
[Wong, Yiu-Chung. One Country, Two Systems in Crisis: Hong Kong's Transformation Since the Handover. Lexington books.] The pro-democrats received victories in the subsequent
2003 District Councils and
2004 Legislative Council elections. The barrister-formed Article 23 Concern Group formed by the pro-democracy lawyers, which transformed into
Article 45 Concern Group, saw its member
Audrey Eu,
Alan Leong and
Ronny Tong were elected in the 2004 election. In 2006, the group formed the middle class and professional oriented
Civic Party. On the other hand, the left-wing radical group
League of Social Democrats was formed in the same year by
Trotskyist
Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
legislator
Leung Kwok-hung and radical radio host
Wong Yuk-man. As a result of the diversification of the pro-democracy elements, the use of "pan-democrats" gained in popularity, as it is typically meant to be non-denominational and all-inclusive.
In the
2007 Chief Executive election, Civic Party's
Alan Leong successfully gained enough nominations to challenge the incumbent Chief Executive
Donald Tsang, but he was not elected as expected due to the control 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 ...
by the pro-Beijing camp. After the
2008 Legislative Council election, The Frontier merged into the Democratic Party and the convenor
Emily Lau was elected vice chair of the party.
2012 reform package and the Split
Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive, promised to resolve the question of universal suffrage in his office during the election. He carried out the
2012 constitutional package in 2009 which was criticised by the pro-democracy as lack of genuine progress. The League of Social Democrats called for a ''
de facto''
referendum
A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
, by way of the
2010 by-elections in five geographical constituencies.
Civic Party, the second largest pro-democratic party joined, however the Democratic Party, the largest party, was reluctant to participate. The Democratic Party and other moderate democrats and pro-democracy scholars launched the
Alliance for Universal Suffrage and started to engage with the mainland officials. The Democratic Party brought out a revised proposal of the package to Beijing and the revised proposal was passed in the Legislative Council in the support of the government and Pro-Beijing camp.
[Cheung, Gary; Wong, Albert & Fung, Fanny (25 June 2010) "Cheers and jeers for political reform vote", ''South China Morning Post'']
However, it triggered a major split within the camp and also in the Democratic Party. The Young Turks including the LegCo member
Andrew Cheng quit the party and formed the
Neo Democrats. The Democratic Party was accused by the LSD and the radicals of betraying democracy and its supporters. On the matter of whether to coordinate with the moderate democrats in the
2011 District Council elections, the League of Social Democrats was suffered in the factional fighting and two of the three LSD legislators left the party in disarray and formed the
People Power. The People Power's campaign targeted pan-democracy parties in the 2011 District Council elections that had supported the reform package filled candidates to run against them but only won one seat of 62 contested.
Nevertheless, the People Power managed to win three seats in the
2012 Legislative Council election and the radical democrats of the (People Power and the League of Social Democrats) topped 264,000 votes, compared to the Civic Party's 255,000 and Democratic Party's 247,000 respectively. Despite the pan-democrats securing three of the five newly created,
District Council (second)
The District Council (Second) functional constituency () was a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong which was created in the 2012 constitutional reform package. It was the largest functional constitu ...
constituency seats the ratio of the vote share between the pan-democrats and the
pro-Beijing camp narrowed significantly from the traditional 60% to 40%, to 55% to 45%.
The chairman of the Democratic Party
Albert Ho represented the pan-democracy camp to run in the
2012 Chief Executive election. On election day the pan-democrats declined to vote for neither
Henry Tang nor
Leung Chun-ying and called for a
blank vote from the electors.
[Siu, Phila (22 March 2012)]
"Tang or Blank"
''The Standard''
2014 Umbrella Revolution
In March 2013, all 27 democratic legislators formed the Alliance for True Democracy (ATD), replacing the Alliance for Universal Suffrage, to show solidarity of the camp to fight for genuine democracy. The ATD put forward a three-channel proposal for the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2017 Chief Executive election during the 2014 Hong Kong electoral reform, constitutional reform consultation in 2014. However, the decision of the
National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on 31 August ruled out the possibility for any candidate not endorsed by Beijing to be nominated for the election, which the pan-democrats accused as a betrayal of the principle of "one person, one vote," The pan-democrats had supported legal scholar Benny Tai's Occupy Central with Love and Peace, Occupy Central plan of civil disobedience against Beijing's decision, which later turned into a 2014 Hong Kong protests, 79-day occupy protest which often dubbed as "Umbrella Revolution".
On 18 June 2015, all 27 pan-democrat legislators and Medical (constituency), Medical legislator Leung Ka-lau voted against the government's constitutional reform bill while the pro-Beijing legislators launched a failed walk-out. The bill was defeated by 28 against 8 for, barely meeting the quorum of 35.
Many new political groups emerged from the Umbrella Revolution often distanced themselves from the pan-democrats. Many of whom, being labelled as "localism in Hong Kong, localists", criticised pan-democrats' failing in achieving democracy in the last 30 years. Many of them called for more "militant" tactics over pan-democrats' "non-violent" principles and "China–Hong Kong separation" over the some mainstream pan-democrats' mild "Chinese nationalist sentiment".
Some of them also criticised pan-democrats' demand of the vindication of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, as pursued by the
(HKASPDMC). There was also growing voice for
Hong Kong independence from the Chinese rule, as many of whom deemed the "One Country, Two Systems" had failed.
Continued division and anti-extradition protests
In the
2016 Legislative Council election, localist camp with different banners together took away 19 per cent of the vote share from the pan-democrats, in which the traditional pan-democrats secured only 36 per cent, 21 less than the previous election. The non-establishment forces secured 30 out of the 70 seats, in which pan-democrats took 23 seats. After the election, the 27-member pro-democrats' caucus rebranded themselves into "pro-democracy camp" or "G27", as three backers of the "self-determination" of Hong Kong, namely Nathan Law, Lau Siu-lai and Eddie Chu joined the caucus.
The "G27" soon became "G26" after Chu left the caucus shortly afterwards.
In the 2016 Hong Kong Election Committee Subsector elections, 2016 Election Committee subsector election, the pro-democrat coalition "Democrats 300+" scored a record victory in 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 ...
which was responsible for electing the 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2017 Chief Executive. The democrats decided not to field their candidate in order to boost the chance of an alternative establishment candidate against incumbent
Leung Chun-ying. After Leung announced he would not seek for re-election, the pro-democrats turned against Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam who was seen as "C.Y. 2.0". The pro-democrats nominated former Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, Financial Secretary John Tsang and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing amid the Liaison Office (Hong Kong), Liaison Office actively lobbied for Lam. Ahead of the election, some 98 per cent of the "Democrats 300+" coalition decided on voting for Tsang as he was the most popular candidate in the polls.
On 14 July 2017,
Leung Kwok-hung of the
League of Social Democrats, Nathan Law of the Demosisto, Yiu Chung-yim and Lau Siu-lai were unseated from the Legislative Council over Hong Kong Legislative Council oath-taking controversy, their manners at the oath-taking ceremony at the inaugural meeting as a result of the legal action from the Leung Chun-ying government and the interpretation of the Hong Kong Basic Law by the
National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), following the disqualification of two pro-independence legislators, Youngspiration's Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching.
The pro-democrats suffered a defeat in the 2018 Hong Kong by-election, by-election for four of the six vacancies on 11 March 2018, losing the Kowloon West (1998 constituency), Kowloon West geographical constituency and Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape (constituency), Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape functional constituency to the pro-Beijing candidates. Yiu Ching-yim who contested in Kowloon West was defeated by Vincent Cheng (DAB politician), Vincent Cheng of the DAB with a thin margin, making it the first time a pro-democrat lost in a single-member district election since the handover. The vote share of the pro-democrats also dropped from the traditional 55 per cent to only 47 per cent.
The pro-democrats fiercely opposed the 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill, amendment to the extradition law in 2019 which they feared the erosion of Hong Kong's legal system and its built-in safeguards.
The opposition led to the 2019 Hong Kong protests, historic massive protests throughout the latter half of the year. Riding on the anti-government sentiments, the pro-democracy camp achieved its biggest landslide victory in the history of Hong Kong in the
2019 District Council election, gaining control of 17 of the 18 District Councils and tripling their seats from around 124 to about 388. The pro-democrats were also able to capture 117 District Council subsector seats in the 1,200-member Election Committee, which is responsible for electing the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. Pro-Beijing parties and independents won from around 300 to only 62 seats, losing nearly 80 per cent of the seats.
2020 resignation en masse
The 2020 Hong Kong national security law, Hong Kong national security law promulgated by the NPCSC in June 2020 gave sweeping power to the Hong Kong government to suppress the opposition whoever was perceived as the "threat of the national security". In the postponement of the 2020 Hong Kong legislative election, subsequently postponed Legislative Council election in September 2020, 12 pro-democracy and localist candidates were disqualified by the returning officers for breaching the national security law, including three Civic Party incumbent legislators Alvin Yeung, Kwok Ka-ki and Dennis Kwok, as well as Kenneth Leung. The pro-democracy camp was divided whether to stay in the extended legislative term or to quit as they deemed the disqualifications as unlawful. In the end, 19 of the 22 pro-democrats remained in the Legislative Council.
In November 2020, the NPCSC applied the national security law to disqualify the four sitting legislators whose candidacies were previously invalidated. In response, the pro-democrat convenor and Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai announced the remaining 15 pro-democracy legislators were to 2020 Hong Kong Legislative Council mass resignations, resign en masse in protest to the decision, declaring the death of the "One Country, Two Systems" and separation of power in Hong Kong. The mass resignations left virtually no opposition in the Legislative Council.
Convenor
A caucus-like mechanism, without whips, was established on 8 October 2004 and was then known as "Lunchbox Conference", as legislators discussed local and political issues during luncheon on every Fridays. The convenor was the nominal leader of the camp but did not contain any real powers.
[ It was renamed as "Pro-Democracy Camp Meetings" after 2016 Hong Kong legislative election, 2016 election.] The conference ceased to function after 2020 Hong Kong Legislative Council mass resignations, en masse resignations in 2020.
Political parties
This list includes the major political parties and groups in Hong Kong:
* Democratic Party, the flagship pro-democracy party that succeeded the United Democrats of Hong Kong, which won a landslide victory in the 1991 Hong Kong legislative election, 1991 first-ever direct elections of the Legislative Council. It was founded in 1990 as a grand alliance of the pro-democracy activists from all sectors and was further merged with the Meeting Point in 1994. It positions itself as centrist and liberal.
* Professional Commons, a professional-based group which consists of pro-democracy legislators elected through the professional functional constituency (Hong Kong), functional constituencies.
* Labour Party (Hong Kong), Labour Party, a social democratic party founded by veteran politician Lee Cheuk-yan of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU) in 2012.
* Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre, a small pro-grassroots group and party formed in 1985 and based in Kwai Chung, Kwai Chung. Leung Yiu-chung
Leung Yiu-chung (, born 19 May 1953) is a Hong Kong politician. He is a member of the pro-labour Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre, which is a part of the pan-democracy camp. He has had a long-standing tenure as a member of the Legi ...
has been its sole legislator since 1995.
* People Power, a Localism in Hong Kong, localist radical democracy, radical democratic group backed by businessman Stephen Shiu. It was first formed in 2011 as a breakaway group from the League of Social Democrats, citing disagreements with the party stance on the Democratic Party's compromise with the Beijing government on the 2010 Hong Kong electoral reform. It suffered a split in 2013 when Civic Passion was formed.
* HK First, a Localism in Hong Kong, localist party that was initially established in 2013 as a parliamentary group in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, LegCo. The party is led by Claudia Mo.
* Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, a political party catering to grassroots interest with a strong basis in Sham Shui Po. Established on 26 October 1986, it was one of the three major pro-democracy groups along with the Meeting Point and the Hong Kong Affairs Society in the 1980s.
Former parties
* Civic Party was a professional-based pro-democracy party formed in 2006. The founders are mostly barristers who rose to fame in the anti-Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, Article 23 legislation. It had scored fairly well in recent elections and overtook the Democratic Party in popular votes in the geographical constituencies of the 2016 Legislative Council election.
* Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions was a Pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong, pro-democracy labour and political group in the Hong Kong. It was established on 29 July 1990. It had 160,000 members in 61 affiliates and representation in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). It was one of the two most influential labour groups in Hong Kong, with the other one being the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions.
* Neo Democrats was a breakaway group from the Democratic Party formed in 2010 which carries a moderate localism in Hong Kong, localist agenda. Its stronghold was in the New Territories East (constituency), New Territories East where it returned its sole legislator Gary Fan who won in the 2018 Hong Kong by-election, 2018 by-election.
* Civic Passion was a Radical politics, radical, Populism, populist, Localism (politics), localist, and Nativism (politics), nativist party in Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
. Founded by Wong Yeung-tat as an activist group in 2012, it held strong Localism in Hong Kong, localist views and opposed the involvement of the Chinese government in the governance of Hong Kong.
* Democratic Alliance (Hong Kong), Democratic Alliance was a Pro-ROC camp (Hong Kong), pro-Republic of China party chaired by Johnny Mak. It was the only member of the pro-ROC camp with elected representatives left since the Handover of Hong Kong, handover.
* Demosisto was a Pro-democracy camp, pro-democracy party established on 10 April 2016. It was led by Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Nathan Law. The group played an instrumental role in the 79-day Occupy protest, occupy protests known as the 2014 Hong Kong protests, Umbrella Revolution in 2014.
Civil groups
* Alliance for True Democracy
*April Fifth Action
* Civil Human Rights Front
*Democracy Groundwork
*
* Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
* Hong Kong Federation of Students
* Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union
* Socialist Action (Hong Kong)
Electoral performance
Chief Executive elections
Legislative Council elections
Municipal elections
District Council elections
See also
* Jimmy Lai
* Liberalism in Hong Kong
* Localism in Hong Kong
* Socialism in Hong Kong
* Pro-democracy camp (Macau)
* Pro-democracy movement (Myanmar)
* Pro-ROC camp
* Centrist camp
Notes
References
{{Portal bar, Hong Kong, Politics, Society
Pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong),
Political party alliances in Hong Kong
Politics of Hong Kong
Hong Kong democracy movements
Liberalism in Hong Kong,
1986 establishments in Hong Kong