New Territories East by-election, 2016

New Territories East by-election, 2016
Hong Kong
28 February 2016 (2016-02-28)
Turnout 46.18%
 
Candidate Alvin Yeung Holden Chow Edward Leung
Party Civic DAB Indigenous
Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing Localist
Popular vote 160,880 150,329 66,524
Percentage 37.19% 34.75% 15.38%

Parties with most votes by each district
Legislative Councillor before election

Ronny Tong (resigned)
Nonpartisan

 Elected Legislative Councillor

Alvin Yeung
Civic

The 2016 New Territories East by-election was held on 28 February 2016 after the incumbent Legislative Councillor Ronny Tong Ka-wah of New Territories East quit the Civic Party and resigned from the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), effective on 1 October 2015.

The winning candidate in the by-election serves a term of only around five months, as the session of legislature ends in July 2016.[1] Though the term is short, the pan-democrats saw the seat as crucial, fearing that the pro-Beijing camp would modify the rules of procedure if they gained a majority of the geographical constituency seats to block pan-democrats' filibustering, as the seats in the geographical constituencies commanded by two camps were evenly 17-17 before the election.

Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu of the pan-democracy camp held the seat for the Civic Party with 37 percent of the popular vote. Holden Chow Ho-ding of the Beijing-loyalist Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong came second, and Edward Leung Tin-kei of the localist Hong Kong Indigenous - who took a leading role in the 9 February Mong Kok civil unrest - came third.[2]

Background

On 22 June 2015, few days after the legislative vote on the 2015 Hong Kong electoral reform over the electoral method of the 2017 Chief Executive election, moderate democrat Ronny Tong Ka-wah, who had campaigned for his mid-way reform proposal, announced that he would quit the Civic party that he co-founded and would also resign from the Legislative Council as he said it was inappropriate for him to retain his seat in the legislature because he stood for election as a Civic Party member which was effective on 1 October 2015.[3]

After the resignation of Ronny Tong, the seats commanded by the pan-democrats and pro-Beijing camp in the geographical constituencies became 17-17. If the pro-Beijing camp had gained the majority of the seats, the pan-democrats feared that they would have modified the rules of procedure, which require a majority in both geographical and functional constituencies, in order to block filibustering, which had been used by pan-democrats as a tool against legislative bills by the Leung Chun-ying administration that they saw as unreasonable.

Candidates

Civic candidate Alvin Yeung's campaigning with LSD legislator Leung Kwok-hung and former spokesman of Scholarism Oscar Lai.
DAB campaigners for Holden Chow.
Hong Kong Indigenous candidate Edward Leung campaigning with legislator Wong Yuk-man.

Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu of the Civic Party, the number two candidate after Ronny Tong in the Civic Party’s list running in New Territories East constituency in the last LegCo election in 2012, was named by Tong as his successor.[1] Other pan-democratic parties also made way for the Civic Party in order to have only one candidate to represent the pan-democracy camp. Youngspiration, a localist group intended to field a candidate and invited the Civic Party to hold a primary, modeling from the pan-democratic primary for the 2007 Hong Kong Island by-election,[4] but later dropped out due to the lack of time for a primary. Yeung submitted his nomination form on 5 January 2016, the first day for the nominations.

Holden Chow Ho-ding, vice chairman of the largest Beijing-loyalist party Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) who submitted his nomination form on 5 January 2016, represents the pro-Beijing camp in the by-election. He was endorsed by major pro-Beijing parties, New People's Party, Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong and Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions.[5]

Christine Fong Kwok-shan, former member of the Liberal Party, independent Sai Kung District Councillor who aimed to provide a choice between pro-democracy and pro-Beijing camp, submitted her nomination form on 7 January 2016.[6]

Wong Sing-chi, former member of the Democratic Party, announced his candidacy for the newly-formed moderate party, Third Side, aiming to offer an alternative to the now-polarised pan-democratic and pro-Beijing camps.[7] He submitted his nomination form on 11 January 2016.[8]

Lau Chi-shing, a nonpartisan candidate submitted his nomination form on 13 January 2016.[8]

Edward Leung Tin-kei, a member of localist Hong Kong Indigenous, submitted his nomination form on 15 January 2016.[8] He was supported by the localist groups such as Youngspiration and Civic Passion, as well as figures like legislator Wong Yuk-man and scholar Chin Wan.

Albert Leung Sze-ho, an independent candidate submitted his nomination form on 16 January 2016,[8] vowed to modify the rules of procedure in order to block pan-democrats' filibustering.

Mong Kok civil unrest

Edward Leung Tin-kei was involved in the Mong Kok civil unrest broke out on 8 January in which the Hong Kong Indigenous called for actions online to defend the unlicensed street hawkers from being cracked down by Food and Environmental Hygiene Department inspectors and escalated into violent clashes between the police and the protesters. The group also announced that it would “exercise” Leung’s “power” as an election candidate to hold an election march in the Mong Kok night market. Leung was later arrested at the scene and was subsequently released on bail.[9] Other candidates disagreed with the violent acts while Wong Sing-chi of the Third Side asked for an explanation from the Indigenous.[10]

Political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung believed that the unrest would attract conservative voters come out to vote for the pro-Beijing candidate Holden Chow Ho-ding of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and further consolidate the radical localist base of Leung, which would place the pan-democracy Civic Party's Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu at a disadvantage.[11]

Electoral forums

A live broadcast electoral forum conducted in English was held during the broadcasting time of Backchat on RTHK Radio 3 on 17 February.[12] A pre-recorded electoral panel discussion conducted in English was held by The Pulse on RTHK was first broadcast on ATV World on 19 February.[13]

Debates of the 2016 Legislative Council New Territories East by-election
No. Date Time Broadcaster Moderator(s) Participants
 P  Participant.  S  Invitee.
 N  Non-invitee.  A  Absent invitee.		 Lau Wong Chow A. Leung Fong E. Leung Yeung
1 17 February 8:30 p.m. RTHK Hugh Chiverton
Michael Chugani		 A A P A P P P
2 19 February 7:30 p.m. ATV Steve Vines A A P P P P P

Polling

Date(s)
conducted		Polling organisation/client Sample size Lau Wong Chow A. Leung Fong E. Leung Yeung None of above/
Undecided 		Lead
28 Feb New Territories East by-election Result 432,581 0.5% 4.0% 34.8% 0.4% 7.7% 15.4% 37.2% N/A 2.4% over Chow
22–23 Feb HKU POP/D100 506 1% 8% 20% 1% 11% 12% 24% 23% 4% over Chow
11–20 Feb Hong Kong Research Association 1,071 3% 11% 20% 1% 5% 10% 22% 28% 2% over Chow
17–18 Feb HKU POP/HK01 130 6% 4% 14% 4% 8% 9% 15% 40% 1% over Chow

Result

Election result by District Council constituency.
New Territories East by-election 2016
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Civic Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu 160,880 37.19
DAB Holden Chow Ho-ding 150,329 34.75
Indigenous Edward Leung Tin-kei 66,524 15.38
Independent Christine Fong Kwok-shan 33,424 7.73
Third Side Wong Sing-chi 17,295 4.00
Nonpartisan Lau Chi-shing 2,271 0.52
Independent Albert Leung Sze-ho 1,858 0.43
Majority 10,551 2.44
Total valid votes 432,581 100.00
Rejected ballots 1,639
Turnout 434,220 46.18
Registered electors 940,340
Civic gain from Nonpartisan Swing

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Cheng, Kris (23 October 2015). "LegCo by-election triggered by Ronny Tong resignation set for February 28, 2016". Hong Kong Free Press.
  2. ↑ "2016 Legislative Council Geographical Constituency New Territories By-election - Election Result". Electoral Affairs Commission. 29 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Cheung, Gary; Lam, Jeffie; Ng, Kang-chung (2015-06-22). "Tearful Ronny Tong quits as legislator hours after resigning from Civic Party amid rift in Hong Kong's pan-democratic camp". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2015-06-22.
  4. ↑ "‘Umbrella soldier’ group invites Civic Party to hold a primary for coming LegCo by-election". Hong Kong Free Press. 25 November 2016.
  5. ↑ Lau, Kenneth (4 January 2016). "Field takes shape in legislative by-election". The Standard.
  6. ↑ "One more nomination form for Legislative Council New Territories East by-election received". Hong Kong Government. 7 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "Nelson Wong to stand for Third Side in NT East". Radio Television Hong Kong. 9 January 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2016 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL NEW TERRITORIES EAST GEOGRAPHICAL CONSTITUENCY BY-ELECTION (NOMINATION PERIOD: 5-18 JANUARY 2016)". Electoral Affairs Commission.
  9. ↑ Lau, Chris; Lee, Danny; Ng, Joyce; Lo, Clifford (9 February 2016). "Mong Kok riot: thousands expected to gather for New Year fireworks as government stares down protesters". South China Morning Post.
  10. ↑ Fung, Owen (9 February 2016). "Legco election candidates line up to condemn Mong Kok violence amid calls for an explanation from Hong Kong Indigenous". South China Morning Post.
  11. ↑ "【旺角衝突】影響新東補選選情 學者：料催谷保守選民投票". Apple Daily. 9 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "Legislative Council By-election forum". RTHK.
  13. ↑ "The Pulse: Legco New Territories East Constituency By-election panel discussion". RTHK.

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