1998 Hong Kong legislative election

The 1998 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 24 May 1998 for members of the 1st Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in 1997. Replacing the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) strictly controlled by the Beijing government and boycotted by the pro-democracy camp, the elections returned 20 members from directly elected geographical constituencies, 10 seats from the Election Committee constituency and 30 members from functional constituencies, of which 10 were uncontested.

1998 Hong Kong legislative election

← 1996 (Provisional) 24 May 1998 2000 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 60 seats to the Legislative Council 31 seats needed for a majority
Registered	2,795,371 (GC)
Turnout	1,489,705 (53.29%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Martin Lee Allen Lee Tsang Yok-sing Party Democratic Liberal DAB Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Leader's seat Hong Kong Island New Territories East (defeated) Kowloon West Last election 19 seats, 42.26% 10 seats, 1.64% 6 seats, 15.66% Seats won 13 10 9 Popular vote 634,635 50,335 373,428 Percentage 42.87% 3.40% 25.23% Swing 0.61pp 1.76pp 9.57pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Ambrose Lau Emily Lau Christine Loh Party HKPA Frontier Citizens Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy Pro-democracy Leader's seat Election Committee New Territories East Hong Kong Island Last election 1 seat, 2.85% Did not contest Did not contest Seats won 5 3 1 Popular vote Did not run in GCs 148,507 41,633 Percentage N/A 10.03% 2.81% Swing N/A New party New party
Elected candidates by each constituency
Party control before election Pro-Beijing camp Party control after election Pro-Beijing camp

Taking the advantage of the proportional representation system installed by Beijing, the pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the weaker side compared to the more developed pro-democratic party, the Democratic Party recorded a clearer increase in the number of seats in the election.^[1]

The Democratic Party returned to the Legislative Council as the largest party with 13 seats, while the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, a pro-democratic party joined. The Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council lost all its seats.

Electoral method

The electoral method for the first Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was crafted by the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) installed by the Beijing government during the intense Sino-British confrontation over the democratic reform carried out by the last colonial governor Chris Patten.^[2] According to the Hong Kong Basic Law promulgated by Beijing in April 1990, the first legislature would be composed of 60 members, with 20 members returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections, 10 members returned by an election committee and 30 members returned by functional constituencies.

For the geographical constituencies, A proportional representation system was adopted by the SAR government in replacement of the first-past-the-post system introduced in 1995. Under the system Hong Kong was divided into five large districts instead of 20 small ones, with voters in each district choosing three to five persons from candidate lists. It was designed to reward the weaker pro-Beijing candidates and dilute the electoral strength of the majority democrats.^[3]

For the functional constituencies, the corporate voting was restored after it was abolished in 1995. It reduced the number of eligible voters by almost 90 percent, from over 1.1 million in 1995 to fewer than 140,000 in 1998. There were also vast disparities in the number of eligible voters among the functional constituencies, ranging from highs of approximately 50,000 in the Education constituency to a few hundred or less in the Agriculture and Fisheries Transport, Insurance, Urban Council and Regional Council constituencies.

For the election committee, the 10 seats would be elected by the 800-member Election Committee, successor to the 400-member Selection Committee which elected the SAR's first Chief Executive in 1996. The committee was predominantly composed of conservative, pro-Beijing business, industrial and professional elites.^[4]

Campaign

The proportional representation system induced the contesting parties to practice strategic voting, effectively turning what would have been otherwise a proportional electoral system into single non-transferable vote, to encourage split voting among their supporters. In New Territories East, Martin Lee's Democratic Party reportedly advised its supporters to split their family members' votes between the Democratic Party and its ally The Frontier to help ensure of a third pro-democracy candidate. In Hong Kong Island, the Democratic Party picked a relatively unknown candidate in the third place of its party list, a move reportedly intended to help Christine Loh of the pro-democratic Citizens Party to finish ahead of the second candidate Ip Kwok-him of the rival pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB).^[5]

Results

For details by LegCo members, see List of LegCo members elected in Hong Kong legislative election, 1998.

Overview

Ring charts of the election results showing popular vote against seats won, coloured in green (Pro-democracy camp) and red (Pro-Beijing camp) on the left and the party colours on the right. Seats won in the election (outer ring) against number of votes (inner ring).

The results saw the pro-democratic camp once again collectively gained over 60 percent of the popular vote, but their share of directly elected seats shrink form 85 percent (17/20) to 65 percent (14/20), due to the new electoral system. The leading pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) which had suffered from the underrepresentation under the single-member plurality system, picked up one seat in each geographical constituency for its 25 percent share of the popular vote.^[6] The Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), a pro-democratic party joined the Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council lost all its seats, while two other pro-democratic parties, The Frontier and Citizens Party won 3 and 1 seat respectively.

The pro-business Liberal Party won most seats in the functional constituencies by taking 9 seats in the trade-based sectors, but failed to win any seat in the geographical constituency direct election. Its chairman Allen Lee could not save his seat in New Territories East which he won in the 1995 election. Some 77,813 voters (65 percent of those eligible) cast votes in the 20 functional constituencies while ten others ran uncontested. Reflecting the built-in conservative bias in the majority of the functional constituencies, pro-government parties and their unaffiliated allies dominated the sectors. Due to the pro-Beijing composition of the Election Committee, the pro-Beijing candidates won all 10 seats in the sector.

Overall Summary of the 24 May 1998 Legislative Council of Hong Kong election results

Parties			Geographical constituencies			Functional constituencies			ECC seats	Total seats
			Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
		Liberal Party	50,335	3.40	0	1,316	1.73	9	1	10
		Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong	373,428	25.23	5	293	0.38	2	2	9
		Hong Kong Progressive Alliance	−	−	−	430	0.56	2	3	5
		Pro-government individuals and others	25,905	1.75	0	22,442	29.44	12	4	16
Total for pro-Beijing camp			449,668	30.38	5	24,481	32.11	25	10	40
		Democratic Party	634,635	42.87	9	48,085	63.07	4	–	13
		The Frontier	148,507	10.03	3	–	–	–	–	3
		Citizens Party	41,633	2.81	1	–	–	–	–	1
		Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood	59,034	3.99	0	0	0.00	0	0	0
		123 Democratic Alliance	3,050	0.21	0	−	−	–	–	0
		Pro-democracy individuals and others	95,390	6.44	2	1,889	2.48	1	0	3
Total for pro-democracy camp			982,249	66.36	15	49,974	65.55	5	0	20
	Individuals and others		48,323	3.26	0	1,781	2.34	0	0	0
Total			1,480,240	100.00	20	76,236	100.00	30	10	60
Valid votes			1,480,240	99.36		76,236	97.97
Invalid votes			9,465	0.64		1,577	2.13
Vote cast / turnout			1,489,705	53.29		77,813	63.50
Registered voters			2,795,371	100.00		122,540	100.00
10 candidates in 10 functional constituencies were elected unopposed to the Legislative Council.

(Total votes added up by this reference) Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine

Vote summary

Popular vote Democratic   42.87% DAB   25.23% Frontier   10.03% ADPL   3.99% Liberal   3.40% Citizens   2.81% 123DA   0.21% Independents   11.45%

Seat summary

Seats Democratic   21.67% Liberal   16.67% DAB   15.00% PA   8.33% Frontier   5.00% Citizens   1.67% Independents   31.67%

Result breakdown

Geographical constituencies (20 seats)

Voting System: Closed party-list proportional representation with the Largest remainder method and Hare Quota.

Hong Kong Island (4 seats) List № Party/ Allegiance Votes Received  % Elected Not elected 1 Citizens 39,251 12.76 Christine Loh Kung-wai   2 Nonpartisan 12,377 4.02   Chong Chan-yau 3 DAB 90,182 29.32 Gary Cheng Kai-nam Ip Kwok-him, Suen Kai-cheong, Christopher Chung Shu-kun 4 Liberal 7,485 2.43   Ada Wong Ying-kay, Alice Tso Shing-yuk, Alice Lam Chui-lin 5 Democratic 143,843 46.76 Martin Lee Chu-ming, Yeung Sum Yuen Bun-keung, Chan Kwok-leung 6 Nonpartisan 2,588 0.84   Louis Leung Wing-on 7 Nonpartisan 10,950 3.56   Jennifer Chow Kit-bing 8 Nonpartisan 935 0.30   Li Hung Total 307,611 100.00   Kowloon West (3 seats) List № Party/ Allegiance Votes Received  % Elected Not elected 1 Democratic 113,079 55.05 Lau Chin-shek, James To Kun-sun Eric Wong Chong-ki 2 ADPL 39,534 19.25   Frederick Fung Kin-kee, Liu Sing-lee, Tam Kwok-kiu 3   Atlas Alliance 2,302 1.12   Helen Chung Yee-fong 4 Liberal 5,854 2.85   Chiang Sai-cheong, Chan Noi-yue, Edward Li King-wah 5 DAB 44,632 21.73 Jasper Tsang Yok-sing Ip Kwok-chung, Wen Choy-bon Total 205,401 100.00   Kowloon East (3 seats) List № Party/ Allegiance Votes Received  % Elected Not elected 1 Democratic 145,986 55.80 Szeto Wah, Li Wah-ming Mak Hoi-wah 2 DAB 109,296 41.78 Chan Yuen-han Kwok Bit-chun, Lam Man-fai 3 Nonpartisan 6,339 2.42   Fok Pui-yee Total 261,621 100.00   New Territories West (5 seats) List № Party/ Allegiance Votes Received  % Elected Not elected 1 Democratic 147,098 39.21 Lee Wing-tat, Ho Chun-yan Zachary Wong Wai-yin, Josephine Chan Shu-ying 2 Nonpartisan 25,905 6.91 Lam Wai-keung, Tai Kuen, Chow Ping-tim, Carmen Chan Ka-mun, Tso Shiu-wai 3 Nonpartisan 38,627 10.30 Leung Yiu-chung   4 Frontier 46,696 12.45 Lee Cheuk-yan Ip Kwok-fun 5 Nonpartisan 11,176 2.98   Ting Yin-wah 6 Liberal 3,138 0.84   Paul Chan Sing-kong, Liu Kwong-sang, Wong Kwok-keung 7 DAB 72,587 19.35 Tam Yiu-chung Leung Che-cheung, Chau Chuen-heung, Chan Wan-sang, Hui Chiu-fai 8 ADPL 19,500 5.20   Yim Tin-sang 9 Pioneer 968 0.26   Lam Chi-leung 10 123DA 3,050 0.81   Yum Sin-ling, Christopher Chu Cho-yan, Mak Ip-sing, Shung King-fai 11 Nonpartisan 6428 1.71   Yeung Fuk-kwong Total 375,173 100.00   New Territories East (5 seats) List № Party/ Allegiance Votes Received  % Elected Not elected 1 Liberal 33,858 10.25   Allen Lee Peng-fei, Wong Yiu-chee, Cheng Chee-kwok 2 Nonpartisan 44,386 13.43 Andrew Wong Wang-fat   3 Citizens 2,382 0.72   Lui Yat-ming 4 Frontier 101,811 30.81 Emily Lau Wai-hing, Cyd Ho Sau-lan   5 DAB 56,731 17.17 Lau Kong-wah Cheung Hon-chung, Chan Ping, Wan Yuet-kau, Wong Mo-tai 6 Democratic 84,629 25.61 Andrew Cheng Kar-foo Wong Sing-chi, Lam Wing-yin, Shirley Ho Suk-ping 7 Nonpartisan 6,637 2.01   Brian Kan Ping-chee Total 330,434 100.00

Functional Constituencies (30 seats)

Voting systems: Different voting systems apply to different functional constituencies, namely for the Heung Yee Kuk, Agriculture and Fisheries, Insurance and Transport, the preferential elimination system of voting; and for the remaining 24 FCs used the first-past-the-post voting system.^[7]

Constituency	Candidate(s)	Affiliation		Votes	%
Urban Council	Ambrose Cheung Wing-sum		Independent	26	56.52
	Ronnie Wong Man-chiu		Nonpartisan	20	43.48
	Mok Ying-fan		ADPL	0	0.00
Regional Council	Tang Siu-tong		Nonpartisan (PA)	25	51.02
	Chiang Lai-wan		Nonpartisan	24	48.98
	Ngan Kam-chuen		DAB	0	0.00
Heung Yee Kuk	Lau Wong-fat		Nonpartisan (Liberal)	Uncontested
Agriculture and Fisheries	Wong Yung-kan		Nonpartisan (DAB)	81	65.32
	Lawrence Lee Hay-yue		Nonpartisan	43	34.68
Insurance	Bernard Charnwut Chan		Nonpartisan	94	53.11
	Chan Yim-kwong		Liberal	83	46.89
	Alex Wong Po-hang		Nonpartisan	0	0.00
	Steven Lau Hon-keung		Nonpartisan	0	0.00
Transport	Miriam Lau Kin-yee		Liberal	82	69.49
	Yuen Mo		Nonpartisan	36	30.51
Education	Cheung Man-kwong		Democratic	34,864	70.89
	Li Sze-yuen		Nonpartisan	5,319	29.11
Legal	Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee		Nonpartisan	1,741	81.55
	Sylvia Siu Wing-yee		Nonpartisan	394	18.45
Accountancy	Eric Li Ka-cheung		Independent	3,556	65.04
	Edward Chow Kwong-fai		Nonpartisan	1,302	23.82
	Peter Chan Po-fun		Nonpartisan	609	11.14
Medical	Edward Leong Che-hung		Nonpartisan	2,759	70.19
	Chan Ki-tak		Independent	1,172	29.81
Health Services	Michael Ho Mun-ka		Democratic	11,420	82.21
	Peter Chua Sek-chon		Nonpartisan	2,472	17.79
Engineering	Raymond Ho Chung-tai		Nonpartisan	2,036	55.95
	Wong King-keung		Independent	1,112	30.56
	Luk Wang-kwong		Nonpartisan	491	13.49
Architectural, Surveying and Planning	Edward Ho Sing-tin		Liberal	Uncontested
Labour (3 seats)	Chan Wing-chan		DAB	212	27.32
	Lee Kai-ming		Nonpartisan	212	27.32
	Chan Kwok-keung		Nonpartisan	204	26.29
	Chan Yun-che		Nonpartisan	99	12.76
	Ng Yat-wah		Nonpartisan	49	6.31
Social Welfare	Law Chi-kwong		Democratic	Uncontested
Real Estate and Construction	Ronald Joseph Arculli		Liberal	206	69.13
	Jimmy Tse Lai-leung		Nonpartisan	92	30.87
Tourism	Howard Young		Liberal	Uncontested
Commercial (First)	James Tien Pei-chun		Liberal	Uncontested
Commercial (Second)	Wong Yu-hong		Nonpartisan	Uncontested
Industrial (First)	Kenneth Ting		Liberal	Uncontested
Industrial (Second)	Lui Ming-wah		Nonpartisan	186	63.48
	Ngai Shiu-kit		HKPA	107	36.52
Finance	David Li Kwok-po		Independent	Uncontested
Financial Services	Chim Pui-chung		Nonpartisan	125	40.85
	Fung Chi-kin		Nonpartisan	117	38.24
	Wu King-cheong		HKPA	47	15.36
	Syed Bagh Ali Sah Bokhary		Nonpartisan	17	5.56
Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication	Timothy Fok Tsun-ting		Nonpartisan	561	68.50
	Wu Chi-wai		Democratic	258	31.50
Import and Export	Hui Cheung-ching		HKPA	Uncontested
Textiles and Garment	Sophie Leung Lau Yau-fun		Liberal	Uncontested
Whole and Retail	Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee		Liberal	945	66.41
	Wong Siu-yee		HKPA	276	19.40
	Chan Choi-hi		Nonpartisan	202	14.20
Information Technology	Sin Chung-kai		Democratic	1,543	63.71
	Yung Kai-ning		Nonpartisan	456	18.83
	Ringo Chan Kei-fu		Nonpartisan	423	17.46

Election Committee (10 seats)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	DAB	Yeung Yiu-chung	441	56.90
	Nonpartisan	Lee Kwong-lam	83	10.71
	DAB	Thomas Pang Cheung-wai	226	29.16
	Nonpartisan	Ng Leung-sing	539	69.55
	Liberal	Ho Sai-chu	386	49.81
	Nonpartisan	Ma Fung-kwok	466	60.13
	Nonpartisan	Kan Fook-yee	300	38.71
	Nonpartisan	James Chiu	141	18.19
	Independent	Peggy Lam Pei	346	44.65
	HKPA	Charles Yeung Chun-kam	380	49.03
	Nonpartisan	Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai	628	81.03
	Nonpartisan	Ng Ching-fai	530	68.39
	Nonpartisan	Maria Joyce Chang Sau-han	149	19.23
	Nonpartisan	Ho Ka-cheong	97	12.52
	ADPL	Law Cheung-kwok	259	33.42
	Nonpartisan	Cheung Hok-ming	273	35.23
	Nonpartisan	Siu See-kong	56	7.23
	Heung Yee Kuk	Pang Hang-yin	212	27.35
	HKPA	David Chu Yu-lin	469	60.52
	Nonpartisan	Stephen Yam Chi-ming	137	17.68
	DAB	Chan Kam-lam	432	55.74
	Nonpartisan	Joseph Hui Tak-fai	214	27.61
	HKPA	Choy So-yuk	397	51.23
	Nonpartisan	Leung Tsz-leung	85	10.97
	HKPA	Lau Hon-chuen	504	65.03

Implication

The 1998 election is the first election after the Handover in 1997. Some observers believed the generally free and fair election was crucial for the consolidation of the newly established HKSAR and the political setting of "one country, two systems" after widespread criticism on the PLC.^[8]

References

1. Kwong, Bruce Kam-kwan (2009). Patron-Client Politics and Elections in Hong Kong. Routledge. p. 79.
2. Kuan, Hsin-chi (1999). Power Transfer and Electoral Politics: The First Legislative Election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Chinese University Press. p. 3.
3. Diamond, Larry; Myers, Ramon H. (2001). Elections and Democracy in Greater China. OUP Oxford. pp. 1985–6.
4. Diamond & Myers 2001, p. 1986.
5. Diamond & Myers 2001, p. 1985–6.
6. Diamond & Myers 2001, p. 1985.
7. "1998 LegCo Election- Facts about the Election". Elections.gov.hk.^{[permanent dead link]}
8. Wong, Timothy Ka-ying (1998). "The First Legislative Council Election of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: Meaning and Impact" (PDF). Issues & Studies. 34 (9): 133.

External links

• Official Government election site