Can polls’ biggest loser become a winner again? Pro-Beijing party must reinvent itself quickly, as it did before
- Party went from massive defeat in 2003 district council polls to big win in Legco elections the following year
- Change will help to shake up leadership, keep government at arm’s length, get a boost from Beijing, observers say
In the wake of more than five months of anti-government protests, the pro-Beijing party won only 21 of the 179 seats it contested. It won 119 in the 2015 polls.
Sunday’s rout was not its first taste of defeat. In November 2003, the party emerged the big loser in district council elections, four months after a 500,000-strong march forced the government to withdraw draft national security legislation commonly referred to as Article 23.
That year, only 62 of its 206 candidates won. But just 10 months later, in September 2004, the party surprised many by making a strong comeback at the Legislative Council elections, winning 12 seats – one more than in the previous election.
With Legco elections due next year, the question is whether the DAB can bounce back from defeat a second time.
