Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, 2006

Democratic Party (HK) leadership election
Hong Kong
17 December 2006
 
Candidate Albert Ho Chan King-ming
Percentage 71.6% 28.4%
Chairman before election

Lee Wing-tat

 Elected Chairman

Albert Ho

The Democratic Party leadership election was held on 17 December 2006 for the 30-member 7th Central Committee of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, including chairman and two vice-chairman posts. Legislative Council member and party's Vice-Chairman Albert Ho from the mainstreamer faction defeated the incumbent Vice-Chairman Chan King-ming from the Young Turks faction with a large margin, succeeding Lee Wing-tat as the Chairman of the party.

Eligibility

The Central Committee was elected by the party congress. All public office holders, including the members of the Legislative Council and District Councils, are eligible to vote in the party congress. Every 30 members can also elect a delegate who holds one vote in the congress.[1]

Overview

The Democratic Party was suffering from the intra-party factional struggles between the mainstreamers and Young Turk reformists, while it was also facing the external challenge from the newly established Civic Party from the same pan-democracy camp.[2] In March, 2006, the Mainstreamer faction alleged that some senior members were involved in spying activities of China. The "suspects" were all Young Turks Reformist members including Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the New Territories East branch Chan King-ming and District Councillor Gary Fan Kwok-wai in New Territories East.

On 27 November, the incumbent Vice-Chairman and Legislative Council member Albert Ho announced he would run for the Chairman post with a cabinet list, including Legislative Council member Sin Chung-kai and Central Committee member Tik Chi-yuen running for the two Vice-Chairman posts, Peggy Ha Ving-vung for the Secretary post and Cheung Yin-tung for the Treasurer post.[3]

Supported by the reformist Young Turks faction, another incumbent Vice-Chairman Chan King-ming ran for the Chairman for the second time after his defeat by Lee Wing-tat in the last party leadership election in 2004.

Elections

Chairman election [4]
Candidate Votes %
Albert Ho Chun-yan 204 71.6
Chan King-ming 81 28.4
Vice-Chairmen election [4]
Candidate Votes %
Sin Chung-kai 180 32.7
Tik Chi-yuen 170 30.9
Fung Wai-kwong 79 14.4
Shirley Ho Suk-ping 73 13.3
Cosmas Kwong Kwok-chuen 48 8.7
Central Committee election[4]
Candidate Votes
Yeung Sum 221
Law Chi-kwong 216
Lee Wing-tat 210
Szeto Wah 210
Wu Chi-wai 209
Cheung Yin-tung 208
Josephine Chan Shu-ying 207
Simon Lee Shiu-man 200
Ng Wing-fai 197
Nelson Wong Kin-shing 197
Wong Sing-chi 196
Mark Li Kin-yin 195
Tsui Hon-kwong 194
James To Kun-sun 192
Howard Lam Tsz-kin 191
Chai Man-hon 188
Chan Ka-wai 187
Peggy Ha Ving-vung 179
Law Chun-ngai 179
Ng Kim-sing 176
Mok Siu-lun 166
Cheung Yuet-lan 163
Kwong Chun-yu 158
Lam Wing-yin 156
Yuen Bun-keung 153
Leung Kai-wah 150
Joanna Leung Suk-ching 150
Fung Wai-kwong 144
Chiu Chung-lam 121
Gary Fan Kwok-wai 114
Chan King-ming 110
Shirley Ho Suk-ping 96
Cosmas Kwong Kwok-chuen 96
Yam Kai-bong 98
Kwan Wing-yip 89
Raymond Luk Yiu-man 65
Wong Chun-wai 60
Sham Wing-kan 51
Lai Chi-keong 46
Wong Leung-hi 46
Lau Tai-sang 36
Lam Chung-hoi 32
Cheung Po-hop 30
Chow Wai-tung 22
Wong Fung-yau 21

Results

The mainstreamer legislator Albert Ho defeated reformist Vice-Chairman Chan King-ming by winning 204 votes to 81 votes.[2] Sin Chung-kai and Tik Chi-yuen from Ho's team also elected Vice-Chairmen with 180 and 170 votes respectively, defeating Cosmas Kwong Kwok-chuen the Young Turk reformist, Andrew Fung Wai-kwong of the Meeting Point faction, and Shirley Ho Suk-ping supported by legislator and founding Chairman Martin Lee Chu-ming and legislator Andrew Cheng Kar-foo.[5] 26 of the 27 mainstreamers candidates were elected except for Chiu Chung-lam, Chairman of the Kowloon East branch. Andrew Fung was the single candidate of the Meeting Point faction who was elected to the Central Committee. The seven reformist members were all defeated.[5]

The elected members of the 7th Central Committee are listed as following:

Aftermath

The newly elected Chairman Albert Ho said his team won because the party members understood that they were in crisis and needed a strong leadership. He called for the intra-party solidarity[5] and stated his main task would be to bring different factions together within the party and prepare for the 2007 District Council elections and 2008 Legislative Council election.[2]

Although being criticised by some reformists, Ho stated that it was a free and fair election that party members must respect and accept the election results. The failed candidate Chan King-ming said the party was inclusive and open so he would continue to give advices to the leadership about reform.[2]

Political scientist Ivan Choy commented that the election results showed the loss of trust between the mainstreamers and reformists. The New Territories East branch which the reformists dominated would confront the party's central authorities. That might lead to another split if the conflicts continued and bad election results came out badly in the District Council elections next year.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Kuan, Hsin-chi; Liu, Zhaojia; Wang, Jiaying, eds. (2002). Out of the Shadow of 1997?: The 2000 Legislative Council Election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Chinese University Press. p. 156.
  2. 1 2 3 4 香港民主黨面臨其它民主黨派壓力. Dajiyuan (in Chinese). 19 December 2006.
  3. ↑ 組閣參選民主黨中委會 港議員堅稱促民主挺維權. Epoch Times (in Chinese). 28 November 2006.
  4. 1 2 3 民主黨第七屆中委會及紀委會選舉結果 (PDF). The Democratic Party (in Chinese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2007.
  5. 1 2 3 4 民主黨改選　改革派全數落馬　何俊仁高票膺主席. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 18 December 2006.
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