| Hong Kong Legislative Council Election, 2004 |
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Elections for the Legislative Council Of Hong Kong (LegCo) were held on September 12 , 2004 . The elections returned 30 members from directly elected geographical constituencies and 30 members from Functional Constituencies . GENERAL OUTCOME Over 3.2 million voters (a historical record) registered for the election. The turnout rate was 55.6%, with 1 784 406 voters casting ballots for the election. This is a historical record in Hong Kong, both in terms of turnout percentage and absolute number of voters, beating the 1998 record by 200,000 votes. While the pro-democratic opposition candidates have gained new seats in the legislature compared with the previous elections, this has fallen short of their expectations. For the geographical constituencies, candidates from the pro-democratic camp secured 60 percent of the seats in the geographical sectors of the election, taking 18 seats (up from 17) in this category, and 62 percent of the popular vote. On the other hand, the pro-Beijing / pro-business candidates made greater gains, winning 12 directly elected seats (up from 7). Ironically, in the functional constituencies which the pro-democratic camp sought to abolish, the camp made more gains (from 5 to 7 seats). Overall, the democrats took 25 seats and the pro-government, 35 seats. Bills initiated by the government can still be passed on pro-government support alone, but bills originated by members cannot be passed without democratic support, since these bills require absolute majorities in each sector (geograpgical and functional) of legislature. Constitutional amendments require a Two-thirds Vote and thereby also require support from the democratic camp. Despite the increase in the number of seats returned by geographical constituencies and the record turnout, the Democratic Party (民主黨) lost the status of being the largest political party in the Legislative Council to the pro-government Democratic Alliance For Betterment Of Hong Kong (who secured 12 seats) and pro-business Liberal Party (who secured 10 seats) parties, thereby becoming only the third-largest party. Some attributed the poor performance of the pro-democratic camp to tactical mis-calculation in vote allocation. This was not helped by some of the democratic parties' personal scandals. Overall, the pro-Beijing and pro-business parties succeeded in retaining the majority in the legislature. However, pro-democracy candidates have maintained the threshold to block changes (if necessary) to the Basic Law Of Hong Kong (since a Two-thirds Vote is required for amendment). The current Legislative Council also saw the entry of more radical members of the 'democratic' camp. There were a few reports of irregularities, e.g. some polling stations ran out of ballot boxes, causing long delays in voting. Some stations allegedly also used cardboard boxes without official seals. Some candidates have tried to challenge the election results, but have remained unsuccessful thus far. A report on the election process was published shortly after the election, and gives explanations for most of these irregularities. DYNAMICS The election was largely seen as a contest between the pro-democracy coalition and the pro-business and pro-Beijing coalitions. There were 162 candidates for 60 seats in the LegCo. Before the election, the pro-democratic camp was widely expected to gain the most votes and increase its representation in the LegCo (from 22 seats). Some members of the pro-democratic camp aimed at securing an Absolute Majority of the seats in the legislature so that they would have the power to veto all government proposals. The democratic camp called for direct elections for the Chief Executive Of Hong Kong in 2007 and for LegCo in 2008 , as well as rapid political reform. In contrast, the pro-Beijing and pro-business candidates placed more emphasis on economic growth and social stability. Most of the political parties are now setting 2012 as the ideal time for electoral reform. While the democratic camp hoped to play up the issue of universal suffrage as a prominent issue in the election, the Standing Committee Of The National People's Congress ruled out universal suffrage for the Chief Executive's election in 2007 and for LegCo elections in 2008 in April 2004 before the election. Despite this, the pro-democratic camp insisted on promoting their agenda, which seemed to backfire when the campaign lost its original momentum. This was not helped by various sex and financial scandals of a few pro-democracy candidates. There were some allegations by the pro-democracy camp of Mainland Chinese influence behind this. Some of the more interesting developments include:
CANDIDATES AND RESULTS General Results Democratic camp 25 seats, Pro-Beijing camp 35 seats Three Largest Parties:
Geographical Constituencies (30 Seats) Voting System: Party-list Proportional Representation with the Largest Remainder Method and Hare Quota . Hong Kong Island (香港島) (6 Seats)
Kowloon West (九龍西) (4 Seats)
Kowloon East (九龍東) (5 Seats)
New Territories West (新界西) (8 Seats)
New Territories East (新界東) (7 Seats)
ELECTION RESULTS Summary of outcome Geographical constituencies Pro Democracy (18 seats):
Pro Government (12 seats):
Functional constituencies Pro-democracy (7 seats)
Pro-government (23 seats)
Democratic camp 25 seats, Pro-Beijing camp 35 seats Three Largest Parties:
Candidates elected in geographical constituencies Hong Kong Island (香港島) (6 Seats)
Kowloon West (九龍西) (4 Seats)
Kowloon East (九龍東) (5 Seats)
New Territories West (新界西) (8 Seats)
New Territories East (新界東) (7 Seats)
Functional Constituencies (30 Seats) The pro-government camp took 23 seats, leaving seven for the democrats. See this site for a list of the winners and the number of votes received in each sector. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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