2003 Hong Kong local elections

2003 Hong Kong local elections

← 1999 23 November 2003 2007 →
All Elected Constituencies 400 (of the 529) seats in all 18 Districts Councils
Registered	2,973,612 4.98%
Turnout	1,066,373 (44.10%) 8.28pp
First party Second party Third party   Leader Yeung Sum Tsang Yok-sing Frederick Fung Party Democratic DAB ADPL Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy Last election 86 seats, 24.85% 81 seats, 23.53% 19 seats, 4.70% Seats won 95 62 25 Seat change 17 21 4 Popular vote 223,675 241,202 53,264 Percentage 21.27% 22.94% 5.07% Swing 3.57 pp 0.59 pp 0.36 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Lau Kong-wah James Tien Ambrose Lau Party Civil Force Liberal HKPA Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Last election 11 seats, 2.42% 15 seats, 3.42% 16 seats, 2.65% Seats won 17 14 13 Seat change 3 1 5 Popular vote 25,720 29,108 29,091 Percentage 2.45% 2.77% 2.77% Swing 0.02 pp 0.65 pp 0.12 pp   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Emily Lau Leung Yiu-chung Johnny Mak Party Frontier NWSC Democratic Alliance Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-democracy Pro-democracy Last election 4 seats, 1.16% 2 seats, 0.41% New party Seats won 6 4 4 Seat change 1 1 2 Popular vote 25,349 14,146 8,418 Percentage 2.41% 1.35% 0.80% Swing 1.25pp 0.94 pp N/A
Map of the winning party by constituency

The 2003 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 23 November 2003 for all 18

After the election, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa appointed 102 pro-government members to the District Councils to dilute the influence of the pro-democrats and retained control of some of the councils.

Overview

Before the elections were held, media had speculated the effect of the controversy over the legislation of the

An unprecedented record of 44 percent, in total of 1.06 millions voters cast their vote in the election. In result, Yeung Yiu-chung, Lau Kong-wah and Ip Kwok-him were all defeated by the pro-democrats while Choy So-yuk retained her seat with narrow margin. The pro-democracy flagship party Democratic Party became the clear winner by winning the most number of 95 seats. Cyd Ho's Civic Act-up which was established after the July 1 protest also captured three seats in the Wan Chai District Council and was able to control the council for the first time with the other independent councillors. Only 62 of the 206 DAB candidates were elected, which became the worst defeat in DAB's history. Tsang Yok-sing took responsibility for the electoral setback and resigned his chairman post. He claimed that the defeat was due to the DAB's unfortunate "Tung loyalist" public image.^[2]

Results

General outcome

Summary of the 23 November 2003

election results

Political Affiliation			Popular vote	%	%±	Standing	Elected	±
		Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong	241,202	22.94	0.59	200	62	21
		Civil Force	25,720	2.45	0.02	22	17	3
		Liberal Party	29,108	2.77	0.65	27	14	1
		Hong Kong Progressive Alliance	29,091	2.77	0.05	23	13	5
		Wan Chai Community Union	1,189	0.11	-	1	1	-
		Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions	2,766	0.26	0.13	3	0	-
		New Youth Forum	1,314	0.12	-	2	0	-
		New Century Forum	833	0.08	-	1	0	-
		Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions	-	-	-	1	1	-
		Independent and others	156,827	14.92	-	136	92	6
Total for pro-Beijing camp			489,889	46.48	0.97	417	201	28
		Democratic Party	223,675	21.27	3.57	120	95	17
		Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood	53,264	5.07	0.36	37	25	4
		Frontier	25,349	2.41	1.25	14	6	1
		Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre	14,146	1.35	0.94	5	4	1
		Yuen Long Tin Shui Wai Democratic Alliance	8,418	0.80	-	6	4	2
		Civic Act-up	5,170	0.49	-	5	3	3
		Central and Western Democratic Power	5,748	0.55	-	4	2	-
		Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions	4,032	0.38	-	3	2	2
		Yuen Long Democratic Alliance	1,489	0.14	-	1	1	-
		7.1 People Pile	2,888	0.27	-	3	0	-
		April Fifth Action	1,149	0.11	-	1	0	-
		Citizens Party	361	0.03	0.22	1	0	1
		Independent democrats	130,453	12.41	-	87	56	8
Total for pro-democracy camp			477,596	45.54	10.29	288	198	38
Independent and others			83,939	7.98	-	132	1	-
Total (turnout 44.10%)			1,051,424	100.0	-	837	400	10

Results by district

Vote summary

Seat summary

Aftermath

In December 2003 after the elections, Tung appointed 21 political party appointees to the District Councils to dilute the influence of the pro-democrats as follows:^[3]

• 8 members of the Liberal Party
• 6 members of the DAB
• 6 members from the Progressive Alliance
• 1 from the New Century Forum

Professor of politics and sociology at Lingnan University, Dr. Li Pang-kwong said "As in the past, most of the appointees were pro-government or persons without a clear political stance... ensur[ing] that no district council is in the hands of the democrats."^[4]

A spokesman for the democrats said the appointees "will have an unfair advantage in that they are getting financial support from the government which will help them run for office in future elections."^[4]

References