2019 Hong Kong Rural Representative election

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2019 Hong Kong Rural Representative election
← 2015 6 January 2019 (2019-01-06)–20 January 2019 (2019-01-20) 2023 →
All 1,540 Rural Representatives
Turnout60.58%
  Majority party
 
Leader Eddie Chu
Party Village Charter
Alliance Pro-democracy
Leader's seat Yuen Kong San Tseun
(Disqualified)
Seats before New party
Seats won 0

2019 Hong Kong Rural Representative election was held in January 2019 to elect 1,540 Rural Representatives in the New Territories of Hong Kong. This is the first time pro-democracy camp formed electoral alliance to run in the rural election, despite co-initiator Eddie Chu was disqualified and the alliance failed to gain any seats.

Electoral system[edit]

Breakdown of Number of Rural Areas and Rural Representatives By District[1]
District No. of
Existing
Village 		No. of Resident
Representatives 		No. of
Indigenous
Villages &
Composite
Indigenous
Villages 		No. of Indigenous
Inhabitants
Representatives 		No. of Market
Towns 		No. of Kaifong
Representatives 		Total no. of
Rural
Representatives
Islands 80 80 66 71 2 56 207
Kwai Tsing 10 10 9 18 - - 28
North 117 117 97 132 - - 249
Sai Kung 91 91 77 89 - - 180
Sha Tin 48 48 46 55 - - 103
Tai Po 122 122 125 151 - - 273
Tsuen Wan 37 37 38 69 - - 106
Tuen Mun 35 35 24 33 - - 68
Yuen Long 155 155 121 171 - - 326
Total 695 695 603 789 2 56 1,540
Map of Villages and Market Towns

A total of 1,540 seats were open for election. Each Existing Village elects one Resident Representatives, while Indigenous Village & Composite Indigenous Village elects one to five Indigenous Inhabitants Representatives. The Market Towns of Cheung Chau and Peng Chau elect 39 and 17 Kaifong Representatives respectively.

Detailed breakdown as follows:

  • 589 Existing Villages (including 574 Indigenous Villages and 15 Composite Indigenous Villages) elect both Indigenous Inhabitants Representatives and Resident Representatives
  • 106 Existing Villages elect only Resident Representatives
  • 14 Indigenous Villages elect only Indigenous Inhabitants Representatives
  • 2 Market Towns elect only Kaifong Representatives

Pre-election events[edit]

The nomination period of the election opened on 9 November and closed on 22 November 2018.

Eddie Chu, member of the Legislative Council, and Paul Zimmerman, Southern District Councillor, initiated the Village Charter movement on 7 November 2018 under the slogan "Let's make our village clean and green",[2] calling for the reform of rural representation system and the democratization of Rural Committees, which elected Rural Representatives will serve in.[3] [4] This marked the first time pro-democracy camp coordinated in the rural election.

Disqualification[edit]

Eddie Chu became the first candidate barred from running in the rural election because of their political stance, as he was disqualified from running in the election after electoral officials questioned his stance on Hong Kong independence and self-determination and invalidated his nomination for “implicitly” maintaining support for self-determination. Chu branded the decision "ridiculous" for "disqualifying an incumbent legislator from running for the post of a village chief".[5][6] The village election process was temporarily put on hold as government considered Chu's candidacy.[7]

Chu later filed an election petition to the High Court over the disqualification, but withdrew in January 2020 after taking into account the outcome of the election petition by Agnes Chow,[8] which ruled Returning Officer can disqualify candidates.[9]

Voting[edit]

The election took place on three consecutive Sundays in January 2019.

Only 436 seats were open for contest with a total of 836 candidates, as 105 villages received no valid nomination and hence no elections were held,[10][11] while nearly a thousand candidates were uncontested, including the Market Town of Peng Chau.[12]

Date District Rural Committee
6 January 2019 Islands Lamma Island (North); Lamma Island (South); Mui Wo; South Lantao
North Sha Tau Kok District, Ta Kwu Ling District
Sai Kung Hang Hau
Sha Tin Sha Tin
Tai Po District Tai Po
Yuen Long Kam Tin, Ping Shan, San Tin
13 January 2019 Islands Tai O, Tung Chung
Kwai Tsing/Tsuen Wan Tsuen Wan, Ma Wan
North Fanling District, Sheung Shui District
Sai Kung Sai Kung
Tai Po Sai Kung North
Tuen Mun Tuen Mun
Yuen Long Ha Tseun, Pat Heung, Shap Pat Heung
20 January 2019 Islands Cheung Chau

Result[edit]

Turnout of the election is as follows:[13]

Election Registered Turnout
Resident Representative 33,497 21,239 63.67%
Indigenous Inhabitant Representative 51,955 31,282 60.21%
Kaifong Representative 7,104 3,553 50.01%
Total 92,556 56,074 60.58%

Pro-democracy camp[edit]

For candidates of the pro-democracy Village Charter, none successfully won a seat. William Ho did not gather enough nominations and was not enlisted as a candidate. In Pan Long Wan, Paul Zimmerman was defeated overwhelmingly by 12–110 after admitting no hope to win the election,[14] similar for Carol Ho of Pak Kong by 23–110. Herve Bouvresses, running for re-election,[15] and David Newbery lost by 10–16 and 10–14 respectively.[13]

Signatories of Village Charter[16]
Name Political affiliation Constituency Rural Committee Result
Eddie Chu Team Chu Yuen Kong San Tseun (Resident) Pat Heung Disqualified
Paul Zimmerman Nonpartisan Pan Long Wan (Resident) Hang Hau Lost
Carol Ho Kit-yee Nonpartisan Pak Kong (Resident) Sai Kung Lost
William Ho Wai-lim Demosisto Sheung Shui Heung (Indigenous Inhabitant) Sheung Shui Not nominated
David Newbery Nonpartisan Hoi Ha (Resident) Sai Kung North Lost
Herve Bouvresse Nonpartisan Long Keng (Resident) Sai Kung Lost

Stanley Ho Wai-hong from the Labour Party, who advocated ending indigenous rights of housing, was defeated by conservative in Ko Tong of Sai Kung.[17] Sum Shui-ying of Democratic Party was declared elected as the sole candidate of Wa Mei Shan in Fanling, who promised to bring voices of democracy into the Rural Committee.[18]

Half a year after the election defeat amidst the pro-democracy protest movement, Carol Ho received threats accusing her of supporting Hong Kong independence and hampering the peace of the village.[19]

Cheung Chau[edit]

With 65 candidates vying for 39 seats, Cheung Chau is one of the closely watched races. Voter shall cast ballot for 39 candidates under block voting system.

Reformist Cheung Chau Synergy, led by pro-business Cheung Chau South District Councillor Kwong Koon-wan, and conservative Cheung Chau Community Alliance, by pro-Beijing Cheung Chau North District Councillor Lee Kwai-chun, fielded 33 and 32 candidates respectively.[20] As the two Cheung Chau constituencies in the District Council would merge into one in 2019 local election, the poll became increasingly competitive.

Community Alliance eventually took up 25 seats, while Synergy only won 14 but made a net gain of 8 seats compared to the last election. Perceived to be risky after losing support, [21] the conservatives retained their majority and the control of Cheung Chau Rural Committee.

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Cheung Chau Community Alliance25Decrease6
Cheung Chau Synergy14Increase8
Total39–
Valid votes3,46597.52
Invalid/blank votes882.48
Total votes3,553100.00
Registered voters/turnout7,10450.01

Ping Yeung[edit]

In September 2018, Chan Kam-wah of Ping Yeung in Ta Kwu Ling declared breaking off parental relationship with his son, North District Councillor Frank Chan Shung-fai.[22] Senior Chan slammed "unfilial" Frank Chan in the statement on newspaper, while Frank Chan said it was an attempt by his father to pressurize his ex-wife to turn over her possessions over a financial dispute with the new wife.[23]

The election for Ping Yeung Indigenous Inhabitants Representatives saw eight candidates running for four seats.[13] The four on Frank Chan's team were defeated, while Chan Kam-wah was re-elected with the highest number of votes amongst all.[24] Despite so, Frank Chan's sister Chan Yuet-ming was elected as Resident Representative by one vote. Chan Kam-wah eventually abandoned his re-election bid as chairman of Ta Kwu Leng Rural Committee, and gave way to his daughter Chan Yuet-ming to become the first Rural Committee chairwoman in Hong Kong's history.[25]

Rural Committee chairman[edit]

Chairman of all 27 Rural Committees were elected by April 2019,[26] who would serve as ex-officio members of respective District Councils and as members of the Heung Yee Kuk.

District Rural Committee Chairman Remarks
Islands Cheung Chau Yung Chi-ming Re-elected
Lamma Island (North) Chan Lin-wai
Lamma Island (South) Chow Yuk-tong
Mui Wo Wong Man-hon
Peng Chau Ken Wong Hon-kuen
South Lantao Ho Chun-fai
Tai O Ho Siu-kei
Tung Chung Wong Chau-ping First chairwoman
North Fanling District Li Kwok-fung Re-elected
Sha Tau Kok District Lee Koon-hung
Sheung Shui District Hau Chi-keung
Ta Kwu Ling District Chan Yuet-ming First chairwoman
Sai Kung Hang Hau Lau Kai-hong
Sai Kung Wong Shui-sang Re-elected
Sha Tin Sha Tin Mok Kam-kwai Re-elected
Tai Po Sai Kung North Li Yiu-ban Re-elected
Tai Po Lam Yick-kuen
Kwai Tsing/

Tsuen Wan

Tsing Yi Chan Chi-wong
Ma Wan Chan Sung-ip Re-elected
Tsuen Wan Yau Kam-ping
Tuen Mun Tuen Mun Kenneth Lau Ip-keung Re-elected
Yuen Long Ha Tsuen Tang Lai-tung Re-elected
Kam Tin Tang Ho-nin
Pat Heung Tang Sui-man
Ping Shan Tang Che-keung
San Tin Jimmy Man Mei-kwai Died in office[27]
Shap Pat Heung Ching Chan-ming

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Breakdown of Number of Rural Areas and Rural Representatives By District" (PDF). Election Affairs Commission.
  2. ^ 羅家晴 (2018-11-07). "朱凱廸、司馬文等六人結盟參選村代表 朱：不會簽確認書". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  3. ^ "Village Charter". Villagecharter2018. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  4. ^ "CHARTER ALLIANCE 2018 - SUGGESTIONS TO REFORM RURAL REPRESENTATION SYSTEM". Village Charter 2018 via Facebook. 2019-01-01.
  5. ^ "Lawmaker Eddie Chu disqualified from running in village election". South China Morning Post. 2018-12-02. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  6. ^ Grundy, Tom (2018-12-02). "Hong Kong bans pro-democracy lawmaker Eddie Chu from running in village election". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  7. ^ Chan, Holmes (2018-11-30). "Village election process put on hold as candidate Eddie Chu risks ban over gov't grilling". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  8. ^ "Eddie Chu withdraws poll petition". The Standard. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  9. ^ 朱棨新 (2020-01-06). "【DQ覆核】周庭案官指選舉主任有權DQ 朱凱廸認為勝算低撤呈請". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  10. ^ "2019 Rural Ordinary Election List of Existing Villages where Resident Representative Elections Had Failed" (PDF). Electoral Affairs Commission.
  11. ^ "2019 Rural Ordinary Election List of Indigenous Villages where Indigenous Inhabitant Representative Elections Had Failed" (PDF). Electoral Affairs Commission.
  12. ^ "鄉郊代表選舉一連三個周日舉行". Now 新聞 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  13. ^ a b c "2019 Rural Ordinary Election" (PDF). Electoral Affairs Commission.
  14. ^ 李奕鳴 (2019-01-06). "【村代表選舉】民主派司馬文：毫無勝算 參選盼提升市民關注度". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  15. ^ 羅家晴 (2019-01-13). "【村代表選舉】何偉航落敗：會檢討選舉工程 為未來的路繼續努力". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  16. ^ 沙半山 (2019-01-13). "【村代表選舉】居民代表選舉今舉行 綠色鄉村約章成員稱勝算難料". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  17. ^ "參選村長 工黨常委何偉航落敗". www.mingpaocanada.com. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  18. ^ 林景輝 (2018-12-03). "民主黨員任原居民村代表 沈運華：冀將民主聲音帶入鄉委會". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  19. ^ "北港村現針對前居民村代表候選人橫額及招紙". Inmedia. 2019-08-25.
  20. ^ Wong, Michael (2015-01-29). "長洲改革派挑戰選舉失敗". Harbour Times. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  21. ^ "政情：區選議席合併爭崩頭長洲李桂珍鄺官穩 掀惡鬥". 東方日報 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  22. ^ "打鼓嶺坪洋村陳金華登報 與區議員陳崇輝斷絕父子關係". Oriental Daily. Archived from the original on 2020-03-23. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  23. ^ "「不肖長子」陳崇輝反擊：阿爸拋妻棄子". Apple Daily. Archived from the original on 2019-06-01. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  24. ^ "斷絕父子關係首同場選村代表 陳金華當選陳崇輝連任失敗". Oriental Daily. Archived from the original on 2019-01-09. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  25. ^ "老竇讓路　陳月明成港首個女鄉頭". Oriental Daily. Archived from the original on 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  26. ^ "The 35th Term of Heung Yee Kuk Ex Officio Councillors Chairmen of Rural Committees" (PDF). Home Affairs Department.
  27. ^ "Vacancy in Yuen Long District Council". www.info.gov.hk. 2022-12-23. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
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