Hong Kong local elections, 2003

23 November 2003

All Elected Constituencies 400 (of the 529) seats in all 18 Districts Councils

Turnout	44.10%
	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	87 seats, 24.85%	81 seats, 23.53%	19 seats, 4.70%
Seats won	95	62	25
Seat change	20	30	5
Popular vote	223,675	241,202	53,264
Percentage	21.27%	22.94%	5.07%
Swing	3.57pp	0.59pp	0.36pp

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party
			PA
Leader	Lau Kong-wah	James Tien	Ambrose Lau
Party	Civil Force	Liberal	Progressive Alliance
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	6	3	2
Popular vote	25,720	29,108	29,091
Percentage	2.45%	2.77%	2.77%
Swing	0.02pp	0.65pp	0.12pp

Map of the winning party by constituency

The 2003 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 23 November 2003. Elections were held to all 18 districts of Hong Kong, for 400 members from directly elected constituencies out of total 534 council members, the second district councils election after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. The pro-democrats received a great victory due to the controversy over the legislation of the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 and the large-scale July 1 Protests.

Overview

Before the elections were held, media had speculated the effect of the controversy over the legislation of the Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 to the pro-Beijing camp. With the surge of popularity after the 2003 July 1 protests, the pro-democrats challenged the heavyweights of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the flagship pro-government party in many constituencies, including the party vice-chairman Ip Kwok-him's Kwun Lung, Choy So-yuk's Kam Ping, Yeung Yiu-chung's Mei Foo and Lau Kong-wah's Kam To.^[1]

Lau Kong-wah stood in Kam To, challenging Democratic Party's Shirley Ho Suk-ping. As Lau was the Legislative Councillor for New Territories, pro-democrats saw Kam To as a crucial target. Icons like Audrey Eu, Alan Leong and Cheung Man-kwong took turns campaigning for Shirley Ho. Standing in the traditional Hokkien community Kam Ping, Choy so-yuk faced the challenged from Leung Kwok-hung of the April Fifth Action, while The Frontier's Cyd Ho stood in Kwun Lung against Ip Kwok-him. Ho was supported by Article 45 Concern Group's Ronny Tong and Ip was supported by the DAB chairman Tsang Yok-sing.^[1]

A historical record of 44 percent, in total of 10.6 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. Only 62 of the 206 DAB candidates were elected. Tsang Yok-sing resigned his chairman post after the defeat and was later on succeeded by Ma Lik.^[1]

Results

General outcome

**Summary of the 23 November 2003 District Councils of Hong Kong election results**
Political Affiliation		Popular vote	%	% +/−	Standing	Elected	+/−
	Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong	241,202	22.94	-0.59	200	62	-30
	Liberal Party	29,108	2.77	-0.65	27	14	-3
	Hong Kong Progressive Alliance	29,091	2.77	-0.05	23	13	-2
	Civil Force	25,720	2.45	+0.02	22	17	+6
	Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions	2,766	0.26	+0.13	3	0	-1
	New Youth Forum	1,314	0.12	-	2	0	-
	Wan Chai Community Union	1,189	0.11	-	1	1	-
	New Century Forum	833	0.08	-	1	0	-
	Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions	-	-	-	1	1	-
	Independent and others	156,374	14.87	-	133	88	-
Total for pro-Beijing camp		487,597	46.37	-	414	197	-
	Democratic Party	223,675	21.27	-3.57	120	95	+20
	Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood	53,264	5.07	+0.36	37	25	+5
	Frontier	25,349	2.41	+1.25	14	6	+2
	Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre	14,146	1.35	+0.94	5	4	+2
	Yuen Long Tin Shui Wai Democratic Alliance	8,418	0.80	-	6	4	+2
	Central and Western Democratic Power	5,748	0.55	-	4	2	-
	Civic Act-up	5,170	0.49	-	5	3	-
	Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions	4,032	0.38	-	3	2	-
	7.1 People Pile	2,888	0.27	-	3	0	-
	Yuen Long Democratic Alliance	1,489	0.14	-	1	1	-
	April Fifth Action	1,149	0.11	-	1	0	-
	Citizens Party	361	0.03	-0.22	1	0	-1
	Independent democrats	123,763	11.68	-	83	52	-
Total for pro-democracy camp		468,451	44.55	-	282	193	-
Independent and others		95,376	9.07	-	141	10	-
Total (turnout 44.10%)		1,051,424	100.0	-	837	400	+5

Results by district

Council	Previous control		Camp control		DAB	DP	CF	ADPL	Lib	PA	TF/CA	Others
Central and Western	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	1	6			2		2	4
Wan Chai	Pro-Beijing	DAB	No Overall Control	Civic Act-up	1	2					3	5
Eastern	Pro-Beijing	DAB	Pro-Beijing	DAB	12	6			1	1		17
Southern	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	1	2			2			12
Yau Tsim Mong	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	2	4		3				7
Sham Shui Po	Pro-democracy	ADPL	Pro-democracy	ADPL	1	2		13				5
Kowloon City	Pro-Beijing	Progressive Alliance	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	2	7		3	3	1		6
Wong Tai Sin	Pro-Beijing	DAB	Pro-Beijing	DAB	5	4		2	1		2	11
Kwun Tong	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	4	9			1			20
Tsuen Wan	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	1	5			1	1		9
Tuen Mun	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	Pro-Beijing	DAB	9	9		4		1		6
Yuen Long	Pro-Beijing	DAB	Pro-Beijing	DAB	4	2			1	1		21
North	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	5	8						3
Tai Po	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	Pro-Beijing	Democratic	3	7				2	1	6
Sai Kung	Pro-Beijing	DAB	Pro-Beijing	DAB	4	4	3			4		5
Sha Tin	Pro-Beijing	Civil Force	Pro-Beijing	Civil Force	2	7	14		1	1	2	9
Kwai Tsing	Pro-democracy	Democratic	Pro-democracy	Democratic	1	11			1	1		14
Islands	Pro-Beijing	DAB	Pro-Beijing	DAB	4							4

Vote summary

Votes, of total, by camp

Pro-Beijing (46.37%)

Pro-democrats (44.55%)

Other (9.08%)

Seats, of total, by camp

Pro-Beijing (49.25%)

Pro-democrats (48.25%)

Other (2.5%)

Popular vote

DAB			22.94%
Democratic			21.27%
ADPL			5.07%
Liberal			2.77%
PA			2.77%
Civil Force			2.45%
Frontier			2.41%
NWSC			1.35%
Others			40.31%

Seat summary

Seats

Democratic			23.75%
DAB			15.50%
ADPL			6.25%
Civil Force			4.25%
Liberal			3.50%
PA			3.25%
Frontier			1.75%
NWSC			1.00%
Others			40.75%

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:^[2]

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."^[3]

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."^[3]

References

1 2 3 "【蘋話當年】2003年民建聯區選大敗曾鈺成辭任主席". Apple Daily. 24 November 2014.
↑ Frank Ching, "Tsang grooms his kind of political talent", Pg A12, South China Morning Post, 24 June 2008
1 2 Michael Ng, Tung picks 'dilute' bodies, The Standard, 29 December 2003

Elections and referendums in Hong Kong

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