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2004 Hong Kong legislative election

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Elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) were held on September 12, 2004.

The elections returned 30 members from directly elected geographical constituencies and 30 members from functional constituencies.

General outcome

A record 3.2 million voters registered for the election. The turnout rate was 55.6%, with 1.78 million voters cast ballots for the election. This is a historical record in Hong Kong, both in terms of turnout percentage and absolute number of voters, beating the 1998 record by 200,000 votes.

While the pro-democratic opposition candidates have gained new seats in the legislature compared with the previous elections, this has fallen short of their expectations. For the geographical constituencies, candidates from the pro-democratic camp secured 60 percent of the votes in the elections, gaining 18 seats (up from 17) in this category, and 62 percent of the popular vote. On the other hand, the pro-Beijing / pro-business candidates made greater gains, winning 12 directly elected seats (up from 7). Ironically, in the functional constituencies which the pro-democratic camp sought to abolish, the camp made more gains (from 5 to 7 seats).

Despite the increase in the number of seats returned by geographical constituencies and the record turnout, both of which was widely expected to be beneficial to the pro-democratic camp, the Democratic Party (民主黨) (secured 12 of 60 seats) lost the status of being the largest political party in the Legislative Council to the pro-government Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, and become only the third party. Some attributed the lower-than-expected performance of the pro-democratic camp to mis-calculation and chaotic coordination in vote allocation and personal scandals involving some of its candidates.

Overall speaking, the pro-Beijing and pro-business parties succeeded to retain majority in the legislature. However, pro-democracy candidates gained the one-third threshold necessary to block changes to the Basic Law of Hong Kong. This session of the legislature also saw the entrance of relatively radical members of the democratic camp. As a result debates in the legislature are expected to be more heated.

There are some reports of irregularities in some polling stations which ran out of ballot boxes, causing long delays. Some stations reportably use cardboard boxes without official seals. Some candidates and their supporters are preparing for petition against the election results.

Dynamics

The election was largely seen as a contest between the pro-democracy coalition and the pro-business and pro-Beijing coalitions. There were 162 candidates for 60 seats in the LegCo. Before the election, the pro-democratic camp was widely expected to gain the most votes and increase its representation in the LegCo from 22. Some members of the pro-democratic camp aimed at gaining 30 seats in the legislature such that they would have veto power on all government proposals.

The broader agenda of the democratic camp calls for universal suffrage for Hong Kong, including direct elections for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in 2008, and a strong legislative presence would also allow them to keep political reform on the public agenda. In contrast, pro-Beijing and pro-business candidates placed more emphasis on economic growth and social stability.

While the democratic camp hoped to play up the issue of universal suffrage as a prominent issue in the election and protrayed the election as a referendum on the issue, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ruled out universal suffrage for CE's election in 2007 and for LegCo elections in 2008 in April 2004 before the election. As a result of this, while the pro-democratic camp insisted on the agenda, the campaign lost momentum as originally wished for. Instead, the 2004 election campaigns turned out to focus on sex and financial scandals of a few candidates, with some allegations of Mainland influence behind the scene.

Some of the more interesting developments include:

  • Some reports in phone-in radio programmes that some officials in the Mainland requested businessmen to take photographs of their completed ballots with their mobile phones to prove that they have voted for pro-Beijing candidates. In response, the government removed curtains from polling booths to deter such activities.
  • The entry into the race of popular radio show host Albert Cheng, who had accused Beijing of pressuring him to leave his radio program.
  • The arrest and sentence of reeducation through labor of Democratic Party candidate Alex Ho in Guangdong province for allegedly having relations with a prostitute. Although there were some initial predictions that Ho's arrest would help the Democratic Party by highlighting deficiencies in the PRC's judicial system, it is generally agreed that his arrest greatly hurt the party among women in Hong Kong.
  • The involvement of Democratic Party James To and The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions Chan Yuen-han in scandals relating to the use of public funds for the benefit of their respective political groups
  • Human Rights Watch issued a report a few days before the election, accusing the PRC government of creating a "climate of fear" to influence the election. In response, the Hong Kong government claimed that the report was distorted.
  • The attack of a candidate of the Democratic Party in the New Territories East district, Mr. Wong Shing-chi. The suspect was arrested and reportedly found to have mental problems.
  • The election of activist "Long Hair", who ran as an independent but who is expected to side with pro-democracy representatives.


List of Candidates

Geographical Constituencies (30 Seats)

Voting System: Proportional Representation using Largest remainder method with Hare Quota

Hong Kong Island (香港島) (6 Seats)

  • Individual (Pro-government)

Kowloon West (九龍西) (4 Seats)

Kowloon East (九龍東) (5 Seats)

New Territories West (新界西) (8 Seats)

New Territories East (新界東) (7 Seats)

  • Individual (Pro-democracy radical)

Election results

Summary of outcome of geographical constituencies

Pro Democracy (18 seats):

Pro Government (12 seats):

Candidates elected in geographical constituencies

Hong Kong Island (香港島) (6 Seats)

  • Individual (Pro-government)

Kowloon West (九龍西) (4 Seats)

Kowloon East (九龍東) (5 Seats)

  • Democratic Alliance(Pro-democracy)

New Territories West (新界西) (8 Seats)

New Territories East (新界東) (7 Seats)

  • Individual (Pro-Democracy)(Pro-democracy radical)

Functional Constituencies (30 Seats)

See http://www.elections.gov.hk/elections/legco2004/english/nom/files/nom_fc_eng.txt for full name list.

See also

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