Veteran lawmakers cast aside as Legco’s new generation appeals for greater say in Hong Kong’s political future
Results announced in Legislative Council election, with surprise wins for Eddie Chu Hoi-dick and Occupy student leader Nathan Law Kwun-chung
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp looks set to retain its veto power to block bills in the new legislature, as a host of new faces have emerged as winners, sweeping aside veteran lawmakers.
The shift shows pro-democracy voters are prepared to back a new political generation that focuses on achieving a more democratic future rather than a radical pursuit of the city’s independence from China, pundits said on Monday morning as the first election results were announced.
However, the pro-Beijing camp will continue to dominate the legislature thanks in part to its heavy presence in the trade-based functional constituencies.
The election is the first to take place since the Occupy protests in 2014, and comes half a year before a new chief executive will be elected for Hong Kong.
Among the unexpected results was the victory of Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, who won more than 84,000 votes in New Territories West, a surprise result for a social activist with no party backup.
Two other moderate backers of self-determination also won in their election debut, including Occupy student leader Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Polytechnic University lecturer Lau Siu-lai, who came in first among pro-democracy candidates in Hong Kong Island and Kowloon West respectively.
Kowloon West
In the race for six seats in the Kowloon West constituency, the DAB’s Ann Chiang Lai-wan topped the race, with 52,541 votes. Other winners were Priscilla Leung Mei-fun of the Business Professional Alliance, who bagged 49,745 votes; localist Lau Siu-lai, with 38,183 votes; the Civic Party’s Claudia Mo Man-ching, with 32,323 votes and the Democratic Party’s Wong Pik-wan, with 26,037 votes.
Veteran radical lawmaker Wong Yuk-man lost his seat in Kowloon West as he was defeated for the sixth seat by Youngspiration’s Yau Wai-ching, who calls for Hong Kong’s self-determination, and received 20,643 votes.
Kowloon East
The balance of power in Kowloon East remained unchanged, with the two pan-democratic parties keeping two seats and the pro-Beijing camp maintaining three seats.
The DAB’s Wilson Or Chong-sing led the race with 51,516 votes, followed by Democratic Party incumbent Wu Chi-wai with 50,309 votes. Pro-Beijing independent Paul Tse Wai-chun was re-elected with 47,627 votes.
The Federation of Trade Union’s incumbent Wong Kwok-kin came fourth with 47,318 votes.
The Civic Party’s Jeremy Tam Man-ho succeeded his party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit to fill the last seat, with 45,408 votes.
The candidate who advocated independence after entering the election, Chan Chak-to, bagged 12,854 votes. He came eighth place after two other radicals, Civic Passion’s Wong Yeung-tat and People Power’s Tam Tak-chi.
Together with Sixtus “Baggio” Leung Chung-hang, Youngspiration is likely to win two seats in the new Legco.
On the other hand, the Labour Party lost two veteran lawmakers, Lee Cheuk-yan and Cyd Ho Sau-lan.
Frederick Fung Kin-kee, a super seat lawmaker, lost in the race in New Territories West.
“This is a grave challenge for traditional pan-democrats,” Professor Ma Ngok, a political scientist from Chinese University, said. “If the traditional parties fail to change their image, they will continue to face challenges from new faces.”
New Territories West
Independent candidate Eddie Chu Hoi-dick created what his team called “miracle” by bagging 84,141 votes without any party backing in New Territories West, leading the first runner-up by 13,495 votes.
But the landslide victory of Chu came as Labour Party veteran Lee Cheuk-yan was unseated by pro-establishment solicitor Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, who grabbed the last seat by a margin of 5,508 votes.
The balance of power in New Territories West remains unchanged, with the Beijing-friendly bloc maintaining five of the nine seats.
New People’s Party vice-chairman Michael Tien Puk-sun came second by garnering 70,646 votes.
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong incumbents Ben Chan Han-pan and Leung Che-cheung were also re-elected, with 58,673 and 50,190 votes respectively.
Alice Mak Mei-kuen, of the Federation of Trade Unions, secured a second term with 49,680 votes.
Meanwhile, two new faces from the pro-democracy bloc were also elected.
Polytechnic University lecturer Cheng Chung-tai secured 54,496 votes, becoming the first Civic Passion member to enter the legislature.
Democrat Andrew Wan Siu-kin managed to win a seat by winning 41,704 votes after his party was completely uprooted in 2012.
Civic Party incumbent Kwok Ka-ki kept his seat with 42,334 votes.
New Territories East
League of Social Democrats’ Leung Kwok-hung, also known as “Long Hair” defeated independent candidate Christine Fong Kwok-shan by 1,051 votes to grab the last seat in the New Territories East Constituency with 35,595.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong’s Elizabeth Quat won the most votes in the constituency with 58,825. The other winners were Civic Party’s Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu with 52, 416 votes; Labour Party’s Fernando Cheung with 49,800 votes; the DAB’s Gary Chan Hak-kan with 48,720 votes; People Power’s Raymond Chan Chi-chuen with 45,993 votes; Democratic Party’s Lam Cheuk-ting with 39,327 votes; Youngspiration’s Sixtus Leung Chung-hang with 37,997 votes; and New People’s Party’s Eunice Yung Hoi-yan with 36,183 votes.
Hong Kong Island
On Hong Kong Island, Tanya Chan from the Civic Party secured a seat with 35,404 votes. High-profile businessman Ricky Wong Wai-kay failed to be elected, with 33,323 votes.
Nathan Law Kwun-chung won 50,818 votes and Ted Hui Chi-fung, of the Democratic Party, scored 42,499 votes.
The other three seats went to pro-establishment candidates. New People’s Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee won 60,760 votes. Kwok Wai-keung of Federation of Trade Unions bagged 45,925 votes.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong – formerly represented by Legco president Tsang Yok-sing in the constituency – got 41,152 votes, with Cheung Kwok-kwan being elected.
Functional Constituencies
The pan-democratic camp gained headway in the 28 functional constituency seats, increasing their presence from eight to 10 seats.
A breakthrough was made in the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape sector, as pan-democrat Edward Yiu Chung-yim (2,491 votes) defeated incumbent Tony Tse Wai-chuen (2,009 votes) and challenger Bernard Lim Wan-fung (1,235 votes).
The medical seat was reclaimed by the pan-democrats too, as Dr Pierre Chan won with 5,626 votes – beating his rival Wong Yee-him, who got 2,249 votes.
Outgoing medical representative Dr Leung Ka-lau did not seek re-election.
Several other pan-democrats were re-elected, including Civic Party legal representative Dennis Kwok, who got 3,405 votes and defeated his challenger Catherine Mun lee-ming, who got 1,496 votes.
In the accountancy sector, pan-democrat incumbent Kenneth Leung (12,131 votes) was re-elected, his rival Kenneth Chen had 6,836 votes.
In the IT sector, Charles Mok was re-elected with 6,253 votes. His competitor Eric Yeung Chuen-shing got 3,425 votes.
In the education sector, pan-democrat incumbent Ip Kin-yuen was re-elected with 45,984 votes, his challenger Choi Yuk-lin garnered 18,158 ballots.
In the health services sector, pan-democrat incumbent Dr Joseph Lee Kok-long (15,221 votes) also defeated his challenger Philip Choi Pui-wah (9,430 votes).
In the agriculture and fisheries sector, Steven Ho Chun-yin, incumbent from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, defeated his predecessor Wong Yung-kan to win a second term. Ho got 98 votes while Wong, who quit the DAB to challenge Ho, only got 35 votes.
In the catering sector, Liberal Party incumbent Tommy Cheung Yu-yan garnered 2,438 votes to win a fifth term. His rival Ng Wing-tak, an executive chef who took part in the 2014 Occupy protests, got 647 votes.
In the transport sector, Cheung’s party colleague Frankie Yick Chi-ming was also re-elected. Yick got 127 votes while his rival Algernon Yau Ying-wah, chief executive of Dragonair, got 42.
However, in the commercial (first) sector, the Liberal Party’s Joseph Chan Ho-lim was narrowly defeated by the Business and Professionals Alliance’s incumbent Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung. Chan got 388 votes while Lam got 455 votes.
In the financial services sector, Christopher Cheung Wah-fung, incumbent from the Business and Professionals Alliance, was elected with 261 votes. His rivals Ricky Chim Kim-lun and Tsui Luen-on got 150 and 96 votes respectively.
In the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape sector, pan-democrat Edward Yiu Chung-yim (2,491 votes) defeated incumbent Tony Tse Wai-chuen (2,009 votes) and challenger Bernard Lim Wan-fung (1,235 votes).
In the social welfare sector, pro-democracy lecturer Shiu Ka-chun was elected for the first time with 4,603 votes, defeating his rivals Yip Kin-chung (3,858 votes), Kwan Yui-kuen (1,255 votes), former Civic Party Tsang Kin-chiu (1,011 votes) and Nelson Wong Sing-chi (557 votes).
In the sports, performing arts, culture and publication sector, pro-democracy candidate Adrian Chow Pok-yin got 809 votes, and was defeated by Beijing-loyalist incumbent Ma Fung-kwok.
Critics said Ma did too little for press freedom in Hong Kong, and he was booed by some photographers and journalists when the result was announced, while Chow was cheered and received a round of applause.
In the wholesale and retail sector, the Democratic Party’s Au Nok-hin was beaten by the Liberal Party’s Peter Shiu Ka-fai. Au and Shiu got 1,231 and 2,290 votes, respectively.
In the engineering sector, incumbent Lo Wai-kwok (3,906 votes) was re-elected by defeating Louis Ching Ming-tat (2,097 votes) and John Luk Wang-kwong (1039 votes).
In the tourism sector, Yiu Si-wing (625 votes) was re-elected. His competitors Lam Siu-lun and Freddy Yip Hing-ning got 114 and 288 votes, respectively.
In the textiles and garment sector, Liberal Party chairman Felix Chung Kwok-pan (1,138 votes) defeated Kenny Yang Si-kit (361 votes) and won another term.
Dr Li Pang-kwong, of Lingnan University’s public governance programme, called it a change of climate.
“More democracy voters have changed to supporting localism,” Li said. “But at the same time the support for radicalism is waning.”
Radical lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, one of the fervent supporters for filibustering, is fighting a narrow battle with pro-establishment candidate Christine Fong Kwok-shan in New Territories East.
Watch: Hong Kong election day
On the pro-establishment front, most of the results matched pollsters’ predictions. Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee ran first in Hong Kong Island, as did Ann Chiang Lai-wan in Kowloon West.
Eunice Yung Hoi-yan helped New People’s Party, led by Ip, get a new seat in New Territories East.
The Labour Party’s Lee Cheuk-yan admitted defeat, saying his party was facing a crisis after he and Cyd Ho Sau-lan failed to retain their seats, leaving Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung as the sole representative in the legislature.
He used to focus on labour rights, while Ho and Cheung specialised in LGBT issues and the disability rights respectively.
“How could one person handle so many issues?” he said. “We need to figure a way out as losing seats would also mean a huge cut to our resources and community network.”
He said his defeat was caused by a series of factors, including the Thunder Go plan proposed by Occupy Central leader Benny Tai Yiu-ting, which advocated strategic voting.
“But most importantly, it is because the whole society wants to see change and new faces,” he said.
NeoDemocrats Gary Fan Kwok-wai, who claimed to be a pragmatic localist, also lost his seat. His party, which broke away from the Democratic Party few years ago, would have no more representatives in the Legco.
Fan said he would resign from the party’s executive committee and would reflect on its election strategies.
