Elections in Hong Kong
Encyclopedia
Election
s are held in Hong Kong when certain offices in the government need to be filled. Every four years, half of the unicameral
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
's sixty seats representing the geographical constituencies are filled by the electorate; the other thirty seats representing the functional constituencies are elected through smaller closed elections within business sectors.
Hong Kong has a multi-party system
, with numerous parties in which no one party often has the chance of gaining power alone. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong
is nonpartisan
, but has to work with several parties
to form (de facto) coalition government
s.
Any Hong Kong permanent resident aged 18 or above may register as an elector in the geographical constituency in which he/she resides, except those mentally incapacitated and those serving in an armed force. Persons serving a sentence of imprisonment used to be barred from registering and voting, but a 2008 judgment by the Court of First Instance of the High Court ruled that a blanket bar was unconstitutional and that the Government had a year to change the offending provisions. The Government did not appeal the judgment, and held consultations with the public on how the law should be changed. A bill was then introduced to the LegCo, providing that no person would be barred from electoral registration or voting because of criminal conviction, even for crimes against the electoral system
. It became law and entered into force on 30 October 2009.
From late 2003 on, the Government and the public have been drawing out plans of democratisation with the ultimate aim of electing a Chief Executive by universal suffrage after nomination by an ad hoc committee (Basic Law, Art. 45) and electing the whole Legislative Council by universal suffrage (Basic Law, Art. 68). In late 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress decided that the former can be achieved in 2017 or later, and the latter can be achieved after the former has been.
(businessmen and professionals).
In Hong Kong, legislative
elections are held every four years, in years evenly divisible by four. The most recent election
was held 7 September 2008. The next would presumably occur in September 2012.
using the largest remainder method
and the Hare quota
in each of five constituencies. This system encourages and sustains multiple political parties.
There are 28 functional constituencies. Each is to return one Member with the first past the post method, with the following exceptions: The Labour functional constituency has three seats and electors each have one vote. The three candidates getting the most votes win. There are no rules governing the uniformity of functional constituency elections, although four use the preferential elimination system, or instant-runoff voting
.
Details of the electoral base of the functional constituencies as follows:
) 'abusive' and a waste of resources, revealed its plan to do away with by-elections entirely. Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam proposed that a Legislative Council seat in any geographical constituency or one of the five newly-created district council 'superconstituencies' vacated by the resignation or death of a legislator would be filled by a 'leapfrog' mechanism by the next best placed candidate at the previous election. The plan attracted criticism from Pan-Democrats; even its allies in the legislature expressed reservations about the workability of the plan. The Bar Association severely criticised the plan, expressing concern over the constitutionality of the proposals, particularly the reasonableness on restrictions on the right to participation.
The government tabled a bill to amend current legislation for by-elections for 13 July. Following call by the Central Government Liaison Office to re-think, the government revised its proposal on 28 June stipulating replacement by an unsuccessful candidate on the same election ticket. The government bowed to pressure and announced one week later that it would suspend reading of the bill for two months, pending consultations on the revised proposals.
for its district. There is one constituency for, on average, every 17,000 residents, as there are 405 constituencies for 2008, and nearly 7 million residents in Hong Kong. A member is elected from each constituency by the first-past-the-post system. The Chief Executive may appoint a set number of members to each council, totalling 102, and the chairpersons of the 27 rural committees are ex officio members of the councils.
gives the requirements for choosing the Chief Executive, and Annex I does likewise in a more specific manner.
The specific method for selecting the Chief Executive is prescribed in Basic Law Annex I: "Method for the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region". The Election Committee
shall be composed of 800 members from the following sectors:
{|class="wikitable"
! width=70% | Sector
! width=30% | Members
|-
| Industrial, commercial and financial sectors || 200
|-
| The professions || 200
|-
| Labour, social services, religious
and other sectors || 200
|-
| Members of the Legislative Council
, Representatives of district-based organisations
, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress
, Representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
|| 200
|-
| Total || 800
|-
, elections for the Chief Executive are held every five years. An 800-member electoral college
called the Election Committee
is elected by businessmen and professionals (those eligible for functional constituencies, with less than 180 000 eligible voters), and some other sectors of the society, with each of the twenty-eight sectors of the economy receiving a set number of electoral votes. The eligible voters in each sector vote directly for the electors, who in turn cast ballots for Chief Executive.
Pursuant to the Annex II of the Basic Law, the Election Committee also selected 10 Members of the 1st LegCo by block vote
in 1998. Four of the seats were reassigned to geographical constituencies for the 2nd LegCo in 2000, and the remainder for the 3rd LegCo in 2004.
The EC elections are quite irregular. They were held in 1998 and 2000, but none (except for the 2002 by-election
) have been held since. The claim in Ann. 1, Sect. 2, of the Basic Law, saying that the Election Committee must be renewed at least once every five years.
Article 46 was a subject of controversy regarding the term of the newly-elected Chief Executive. The article states:
The law requires a term of five years, but mainland
officials have said the new leader filling-in can only serve until 2007. The matter was settled after a re-interpretation by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC)
. Though this did damage the credibility and integrity of the one country, two systems
formula.
A literal interpretation would mean Tsang has to serve until 2010, but this is not common sense behaviour in most other nations; one can only complete the term of a predecessor. The Chinese government
has decided that the new leader would serve until Inauguration day
in 2007.
stated that a resignation did not end a term, so that Donald Tsang would serve only until 2007, rather than 2010 had a term been deemed to begin with each resignation. This is in line with the practice on mainland China (see Hong Kong Basic Law Article 46
). The 800-member Election Committee
held a vote on a day specified by the sitting Chief Executive sometime during the six months of the year prior to the HKSAR's Inauguration Day, 1 July. An absolute majority of the votes (i.e. 401 votes) are required to be elected. If no candidate has a majority vote, the one with the lowest vote is eliminated for the next round until a candidate has a majority vote.
In 1997, Tung Chee Hwa
was elected with eighty percent of the electoral votes against two other candidates, Mr. Peter Woo
(吳光正) and Sir Ti Liang Yang
(楊鐵樑). In 2002, Tung was reelected uncontested, as he had received 713 signatures of support in the Electoral Committee, and 100 are required for nomination.(Annex I, Section 4, Basic Law)
The 2005 election provided a sense of déjà vu
for many, as Donald Tsang cruised to victory with 674 nomination signatures out of a possible 796 (four seats were vacant).
The EC elections are quite irregular. They were held in 1998 and 2000, but none (except for the 2002 by-election
) have been held since. The claim in Ann. 1, Sect. 2, of the Basic Law, saying that the Election Committee must be renewed at least once every five years, exposed an interesting flaw in the system that was averted when Tsang was the only candidate nominated.
The problem was that the timing is crucial for the new Chief Executive election after Tung Chee Hwa's resignation on 12 March 2005. Since electoral law states that an election must be held 120 days after the vacancy, an election would be held on the tenth of July. It was unclear as to the exact time period separating the election and the date of taking of office for this Election Committee. If the new EC convened prior to the Chief Executive election, it would be applied to select the next Chief Executive, but otherwise the old Election Committee dating from 2000 would have to complete the task (see Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2005
for more information on the topic). The second round produces a further dispute, if the term of the old EC ended after the first round of voting but before the second. It would be rather insensible to use different electors for the two rounds; the same one would probably have to be prescribed.
There are 36 Hong Kong deputies to the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), chosen by an electoral college composed of the following:
(i) Indigenous Inhabitant Representative representing indigenous inhabitants* of an Indigenous Village; and
(ii) Resident Representative representing all residents of an Existing Village
(i) a person who was in 1898 a resident of the Village; or
(ii) a person who is descended through the male line from a person mentioned in (i).
The first new arrangements Village Representative elections was held in 2003. The next Village Representative elections were held in 2007.
|-
! English Name !! Chinese Name !! Position !! Votes
|-
| Donald Tsang
|| 曾蔭權 || Incumbent Chief Executive || 649
|-
| Alan Leong
|| 梁家傑 || Civic Party
legislator || 123
|}
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s are held in Hong Kong when certain offices in the government need to be filled. Every four years, half of the unicameral
Unicameralism
In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a unicameral parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house...
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
The Legislative Council is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong.-History:The Legislative Council of Hong Kong was set up in 1843 as a colonial legislature under British rule...
's sixty seats representing the geographical constituencies are filled by the electorate; the other thirty seats representing the functional constituencies are elected through smaller closed elections within business sectors.
Hong Kong has a multi-party system
Multi-party system
A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...
, with numerous parties in which no one party often has the chance of gaining power alone. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong
Chief Executive of Hong Kong
The Chief Executive of Hong Kong is the President of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and head of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The position was created to replace the Governor of Hong Kong, who was the head of the Hong Kong government during British rule...
is nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
, but has to work with several parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
to form (de facto) coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
s.
Any Hong Kong permanent resident aged 18 or above may register as an elector in the geographical constituency in which he/she resides, except those mentally incapacitated and those serving in an armed force. Persons serving a sentence of imprisonment used to be barred from registering and voting, but a 2008 judgment by the Court of First Instance of the High Court ruled that a blanket bar was unconstitutional and that the Government had a year to change the offending provisions. The Government did not appeal the judgment, and held consultations with the public on how the law should be changed. A bill was then introduced to the LegCo, providing that no person would be barred from electoral registration or voting because of criminal conviction, even for crimes against the electoral system
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
. It became law and entered into force on 30 October 2009.
From late 2003 on, the Government and the public have been drawing out plans of democratisation with the ultimate aim of electing a Chief Executive by universal suffrage after nomination by an ad hoc committee (Basic Law, Art. 45) and electing the whole Legislative Council by universal suffrage (Basic Law, Art. 68). In late 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress decided that the former can be achieved in 2017 or later, and the latter can be achieved after the former has been.
Legislative Elections
The Legislative Council has 60 members, of whom 30 are elected by popular vote in geographical constituencies, and 30 elected from functional constituenciesFunctional constituency
In the political systems of Hong Kong and Macau, a functional constituency is a professional or special interest group involved in the electoral process...
(businessmen and professionals).
In Hong Kong, legislative
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
elections are held every four years, in years evenly divisible by four. The most recent election
Hong Kong legislative election, 2008
The 2008 Hong Kong legislative election was held on 7 September 2008 for the 4th Legislative Council since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. There are 60 seats in the 4th Council, with 30 Members elected by geographical constituencies through direct elections, and...
was held 7 September 2008. The next would presumably occur in September 2012.
Electoral system
The 30 geographical seats of the Legislative Council are returned by proportional representationProportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
using the largest remainder method
Largest remainder method
The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems...
and the Hare quota
Hare quota
The Hare quota is a formula used under some forms of the Single Transferable Vote system and the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation...
in each of five constituencies. This system encourages and sustains multiple political parties.
There are 28 functional constituencies. Each is to return one Member with the first past the post method, with the following exceptions: The Labour functional constituency has three seats and electors each have one vote. The three candidates getting the most votes win. There are no rules governing the uniformity of functional constituency elections, although four use the preferential elimination system, or instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting , also known as preferential voting, the alternative vote and ranked choice voting, is a voting system used to elect one winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a...
.
Details of the electoral base of the functional constituencies as follows:
2009 reform package
As as result of the passage of 'Amendment to method for forming the Hong Kong Legislative Council', the number of Legislative Council members is increased from 60 to 70. Five new geographical constituency seats, and five new directly elected Functional Constituency seats are created.Plugging the by-election loophole
In mid-May 2011, the government, which considered the resignations leading to "de facto referendum" (Hong Kong by-election, 2010Hong Kong by-election, 2010
The 2010 Hong Kong by-election is an election held on 16 May 2010 in Hong Kong, triggered by the resignation of five pan-democrat Legislative Councillors in January of the same year....
) 'abusive' and a waste of resources, revealed its plan to do away with by-elections entirely. Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam proposed that a Legislative Council seat in any geographical constituency or one of the five newly-created district council 'superconstituencies' vacated by the resignation or death of a legislator would be filled by a 'leapfrog' mechanism by the next best placed candidate at the previous election. The plan attracted criticism from Pan-Democrats; even its allies in the legislature expressed reservations about the workability of the plan. The Bar Association severely criticised the plan, expressing concern over the constitutionality of the proposals, particularly the reasonableness on restrictions on the right to participation.
The government tabled a bill to amend current legislation for by-elections for 13 July. Following call by the Central Government Liaison Office to re-think, the government revised its proposal on 28 June stipulating replacement by an unsuccessful candidate on the same election ticket. The government bowed to pressure and announced one week later that it would suspend reading of the bill for two months, pending consultations on the revised proposals.
District Council elections
There are eighteen districts, and thus eighteen District Councils in Hong Kong, each being a city councilCity council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
for its district. There is one constituency for, on average, every 17,000 residents, as there are 405 constituencies for 2008, and nearly 7 million residents in Hong Kong. A member is elected from each constituency by the first-past-the-post system. The Chief Executive may appoint a set number of members to each council, totalling 102, and the chairpersons of the 27 rural committees are ex officio members of the councils.
Article 45
Article 45Hong Kong Basic Law Article 45
Hong Kong Basic Law Article 45 is a controversial article in the Basic Law of Hong Kong. It states that the Chief executive should be chosen by universal suffrage as an eventual goal. Its speedy implementation is advocated by the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group.-Contents of Article 45:Article...
gives the requirements for choosing the Chief Executive, and Annex I does likewise in a more specific manner.
The specific method for selecting the Chief Executive is prescribed in Basic Law Annex I: "Method for the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region". The Election Committee
Election Committee
The Election Committee is an 800-member electoral college in the politics of Hong Kong. It was established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong. This article defines the method of electing the Chief Executive. It is renewed every five years when the sitting Chief Executive's term has expired...
shall be composed of 800 members from the following sectors:
{|class="wikitable"
! width=70% | Sector
! width=30% | Members
|-
| Industrial, commercial and financial sectors || 200
|-
| The professions || 200
|-
| Labour, social services, religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and other sectors || 200
|-
| Members of the Legislative Council
Legislative Council of Hong Kong
The Legislative Council is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong.-History:The Legislative Council of Hong Kong was set up in 1843 as a colonial legislature under British rule...
, Representatives of district-based organisations
District Council of Hong Kong
The District Councils, formerly District Boards until 1999, are the local councils for the 18 Districts of Hong Kong. Under the supervision of Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Government, they are consultative bodies on district administration and affairs.- History :In 1982, under the...
, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress , abbreviated NPC , is the highest state body and the only legislative house in the People's Republic of China. The National People's Congress is held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China; with 2,987 members, it is the...
, Representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference [], shortened as 人民政协, Rénmín Zhèngxié, i.e. "People's PCC"; or just 政协, Zhèngxié, i.e. "The PCC"), abbreviated CPPCC, is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China...
|| 200
|-
| Total || 800
|-
Article 46
According to Article 46 of the Hong Kong Basic LawHong Kong Basic Law
The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, or simply Hong Kong Basic Law, serves as the constitutional document of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China...
, elections for the Chief Executive are held every five years. An 800-member electoral college
Electoral college
An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...
called the Election Committee
Election Committee
The Election Committee is an 800-member electoral college in the politics of Hong Kong. It was established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong. This article defines the method of electing the Chief Executive. It is renewed every five years when the sitting Chief Executive's term has expired...
is elected by businessmen and professionals (those eligible for functional constituencies, with less than 180 000 eligible voters), and some other sectors of the society, with each of the twenty-eight sectors of the economy receiving a set number of electoral votes. The eligible voters in each sector vote directly for the electors, who in turn cast ballots for Chief Executive.
Pursuant to the Annex II of the Basic Law, the Election Committee also selected 10 Members of the 1st LegCo by block vote
Plurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
in 1998. Four of the seats were reassigned to geographical constituencies for the 2nd LegCo in 2000, and the remainder for the 3rd LegCo in 2004.
The EC elections are quite irregular. They were held in 1998 and 2000, but none (except for the 2002 by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
) have been held since. The claim in Ann. 1, Sect. 2, of the Basic Law, saying that the Election Committee must be renewed at least once every five years.
Article 46 was a subject of controversy regarding the term of the newly-elected Chief Executive. The article states:
The law requires a term of five years, but mainland
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
officials have said the new leader filling-in can only serve until 2007. The matter was settled after a re-interpretation by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC)
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is a committee of about 150 members of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China , which is convened between plenary sessions of the NPC. It has the constitutional authority to modify legislation within limits set by...
. Though this did damage the credibility and integrity of the one country, two systems
One country, two systems
"One country, two systems" is an idea originally proposed by Deng Xiaoping, then Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China , for the reunification of China during the early 1980s...
formula.
A literal interpretation would mean Tsang has to serve until 2010, but this is not common sense behaviour in most other nations; one can only complete the term of a predecessor. The Chinese government
Government of the People's Republic of China
All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
has decided that the new leader would serve until Inauguration day
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day is celebrated every 1 July, in Hong Kong since 1997. The holiday commemorates the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China and the establishment of the Hong Kong Special...
in 2007.
2005 Crisis
The last was held in 2002, and with the resignation of Tung Chee Hwa an election would have been called on 10 July, had the election been contested. A controversial decision by the National People's CongressNational People's Congress
The National People's Congress , abbreviated NPC , is the highest state body and the only legislative house in the People's Republic of China. The National People's Congress is held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China; with 2,987 members, it is the...
stated that a resignation did not end a term, so that Donald Tsang would serve only until 2007, rather than 2010 had a term been deemed to begin with each resignation. This is in line with the practice on mainland China (see Hong Kong Basic Law Article 46
Hong Kong Basic Law Article 46
Article 46 of the Hong Kong Basic Law states:This became a part of a legal dispute in 2005 after the resignation of Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-Hwa. The question arose as to whether his successor would serve a full five-year term or would only serve the remainder of Tung's term...
). The 800-member Election Committee
Election Committee
The Election Committee is an 800-member electoral college in the politics of Hong Kong. It was established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong. This article defines the method of electing the Chief Executive. It is renewed every five years when the sitting Chief Executive's term has expired...
held a vote on a day specified by the sitting Chief Executive sometime during the six months of the year prior to the HKSAR's Inauguration Day, 1 July. An absolute majority of the votes (i.e. 401 votes) are required to be elected. If no candidate has a majority vote, the one with the lowest vote is eliminated for the next round until a candidate has a majority vote.
In 1997, Tung Chee Hwa
Tung Chee Hwa
Tung Chee Hwa, GBM was the first Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China....
was elected with eighty percent of the electoral votes against two other candidates, Mr. Peter Woo
Peter Woo
Peter Woo Kwong Ching GBS, JP MBA is Chairman of Wheelock and Company Limited and The Wharf Holdings Limited.-Education and career:...
(吳光正) and Sir Ti Liang Yang
Yang Ti-liang
Dato Seri Paduka Sir Ti-liang Yang, GBM, SPMB, JP , also known as Sir TL, is a retired senior judge in Hong Kong...
(楊鐵樑). In 2002, Tung was reelected uncontested, as he had received 713 signatures of support in the Electoral Committee, and 100 are required for nomination.(Annex I, Section 4, Basic Law)
The 2005 election provided a sense of déjà vu
Déjà vu
Déjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined...
for many, as Donald Tsang cruised to victory with 674 nomination signatures out of a possible 796 (four seats were vacant).
The EC elections are quite irregular. They were held in 1998 and 2000, but none (except for the 2002 by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
) have been held since. The claim in Ann. 1, Sect. 2, of the Basic Law, saying that the Election Committee must be renewed at least once every five years, exposed an interesting flaw in the system that was averted when Tsang was the only candidate nominated.
The problem was that the timing is crucial for the new Chief Executive election after Tung Chee Hwa's resignation on 12 March 2005. Since electoral law states that an election must be held 120 days after the vacancy, an election would be held on the tenth of July. It was unclear as to the exact time period separating the election and the date of taking of office for this Election Committee. If the new EC convened prior to the Chief Executive election, it would be applied to select the next Chief Executive, but otherwise the old Election Committee dating from 2000 would have to complete the task (see Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2005
Hong Kong Chief Executive election, 2005
The Hong Kong Chief Executive election of 2005 was held to fill the vacancy of the territory's top office. Tung Chee Hwa submitted a resignation document to the Chinese government, and it was officially approved on 12 March. On 24 June, Donald Tsang was sworn in as the new Chief Executive on 16 June...
for more information on the topic). The second round produces a further dispute, if the term of the old EC ended after the first round of voting but before the second. It would be rather insensible to use different electors for the two rounds; the same one would probably have to be prescribed.
Elections of deputies to the National People's Congress of the PRC
Article 21 of The Basic Law of HKSAR stipulates:Chinese citizens who are residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be entitled to participate in the management of state affairs according to law.
In accordance with the assigned number of seats and the selection method specified by the National People's Congress, the Chinese citizens among the residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall locally elect deputies of the Region to the National People's Congress to participate in the work of the highest organ of state power.
There are 36 Hong Kong deputies to the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), chosen by an electoral college composed of the following:
- Members of the previous electoral college that had elected the Hong Kong deputies to the 10th NPC;
- Hong Kong delegates of the 10th Chinese People's Political Consultation Committee;
- Members of the Election Committee (which elects the Chief Executive) who are Chinese nationals, except those who opt out; and
- The Chief Executive of the HKSAR;
Village Representative elections
The Court of Final Appeal ruled the Secretary for Home Affairs had to consider whether the person elected to represent a village was elected in accordance with electoral arrangements consistent with the Bill of Rights and the Sex Discrimination Ordinance whether to approve an elected Village Representative in December 2000. This decision caused Hong Kong Government to set up new arrangements for Village Representative. There are two types of Village Representatives, namely(i) Indigenous Inhabitant Representative representing indigenous inhabitants* of an Indigenous Village; and
(ii) Resident Representative representing all residents of an Existing Village
- Indigenous Inhabitant—in relation to an Indigenous Village that existed in 1898 (whether or not the name the Village now has is the same name it had in 1898) means
(i) a person who was in 1898 a resident of the Village; or
(ii) a person who is descended through the male line from a person mentioned in (i).
The first new arrangements Village Representative elections was held in 2003. The next Village Representative elections were held in 2007.
2007 Chief Executive election
{|class="wikitable"|-
! English Name !! Chinese Name !! Position !! Votes
|-
| Donald Tsang
Donald Tsang
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, GBM, KBE is the current Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of the Government of Hong Kong....
|| 曾蔭權 || Incumbent Chief Executive || 649
|-
| Alan Leong
Alan Leong
Kah Kit Alan Leong , SC is a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, representing the Kowloon East geographical constituency and leader of the Civic Party. He is also vice-chairperson of the Independent Police Complaints Council.-Early career:...
|| 梁家傑 || Civic Party
Civic Party
Civic Party is a liberal democratic political party in Hong Kong.The Civic Party is currently the third largest political party in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, with five members securing seats in the 2008 Hong Kong Legislative Council elections...
legislator || 123
|}
2008 Legislative election
See also
- Electoral calendarElectoral calendar 2009This electoral calendar 2009 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2009 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections...
(global) - Politics of Hong KongPolitics of Hong KongPolitics of Hong Kong takes place in a framework of a political system dominated by its constitutional document, the Basic Law of Hong Kong, its own legislature, the Chief Executive as the head of government, and of a multi-party system...
- List of constituencies of Hong Kong
External links
- Hong Kong Government Website
- Adam Carr's Election Archive
- Elections in Hong Kong/ Roland Nicholson, Jr.
- Previous election results by Lingnan University
- The Electoral System, Hong Kong 2003 - Constitution and Administration, Government of Hong Kong
- Web Site of the Electoral Affairs Commission