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2021 Hong Kong Election Committee Subsector elections

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2021 Election Committee subsector elections
← 2016 19 September 2021 2026 →
967 (of the 1,500) seats in the Election Committee
751 seats needed for a majority
Registered7,971[1][a] Decrease96.77%
Turnout4,389 (89.77%) Increase43.24pp
  First party Second party Third party
  Starry Lee Ng Chau-pei Regina Ip
Leader Starry Lee Ng Chau-pei Regina Ip
Party DAB FTU NPP
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing
Seats won 65 56 10
  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  Lam Chun-sing Felix Chung Lo Wai-kwok
Leader Lam Chun-sing Felix Chung Lo Wai-kwok
Party FLU Liberal BPA
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing
Seats won 9 7 6

The 2021 Election Committee subsector elections were held on 19 September 2021 for elected seats of the 1,500 members of the Election Committee (EC) which is responsible for electing 40 of the 90 seats in the Legislative Council (LegCo) in the 2021 election and the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (CE) in the 2022 election.[2]

Based on the new electoral framework imposed by the Beijing government, the composition of the Election Committee is drastically changed, seeing its size increasing from 1,200 to 1,500, with a sizeable number of new seats being nominated and elected by government-appointed and Beijing-controlled organisations, replacing a total number of 117 seats of District Council subsectors which would have been controlled by the pro-democracy camp due to the electoral landslide in the 2019 District Council election.[3][4][5] It was widely seen as Beijing's latest move to further curb the influence of the pro-democrats who were able to win more than a quarter of the total seats in the last election in 2016 and its following electoral success in the wake of the widespread anti-government protests of 2019.[6]

Under the new system, the registered voters for the Election Committee dropped by almost 97 per cent, sharply declining from 246,440 voters in 2016 to only 7,891 voters in 2021.[7] Only 13 of the 36 electable subsectors had a contested race, equal to around a quarter of the Election Committee seats involving 412 candidates and about 4,800 eligible voters, while the majority of the seats were either ex officio, nominated by special interest groups or elected uncontestedly.[8] With pro-democrats being purged before the election, the Election Committee was tightly controlled by the pro-Beijing camp with effectively no opposition presence.[9]

Background

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2016–2017 electoral cycle

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Despite the unique design of the Election Committee (EC) being deeply in favour of the pro-Beijing and pro-business interests, the pro-democrats were able to pocketed more than one-eighth of seats to nominate Civic Party's Alan Leong and Democratic Party's Albert Ho into the Chief Executive race in 2007 and 2012 respectively.

In the 2016 Election Committee Subsector elections, the pro-democrats launched the "Democrats 300+" campaign, aiming at winning more than 300 seats in order to nominate an alternative candidate against incumbent Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. As a result, the pro-democrats took a record quarter of the seat in the elections, with the help of the landslide victories in the Second Sector of professions, the traditional pro-democracy stronghold, despite Leung Chun-ying announced that he would not seek for a second term two days before the Election Committee elections.[10][11] The pro-democrats supported former Financial Secretary John Tsang and former judge Woo Kwok-hing against Beijing-favoured Carrie Lam, former Chief Secretary for Administration, making the 2017 Chief Executive election fairly competitive.[12]

2021 NPC electoral reform

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In the summer of 2019, the Carrie Lam administration pushed for the extradition bill triggered the unprecedented waves of anti-government protests in the latter half of the year. In the November District Council election, the pro-democrats won a historic electoral landslide by winning more than 80 per cent of the seats, seizing control of 17 of the 18 District Councils as a result.[13][14] Due to the bloc voting system in the Election Committee, it would mean that the pro-democrats could take all of the 117 seats of the District Council seats in the upcoming Election Committee elections and increase their bargaining power in picking the next Chief Executive.[15]

To thwart opposition momentum and neutralise the pro-democracy movement, the Carrie Lam administration unprecedentedly invoked the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to postpone the September 2020 Legislative Council election, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.[16] In March 2021, the National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, unveiled the plan to drastically rewrite the electoral system for the Chief Executive, the Election Committee and the Legislative Council, claiming the necessity to ensure "patriots governing in Hong Kong" as the basis of further curbing the pro-democracy influence in the coming elections.[17][18]

New electoral system

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Main article: 2021 Hong Kong electoral reform
Changes to the composition of the Election Committee:
2016 composition (1,200 seats)
  •   Elected (1,034)
  •   Nominated (60)
  •   Ex-officio (106)
2021 composition (1,500 seats)
  •   Elected (967)
  •   Nominated (156)
  •   Ex-officio (377)

Under the amended Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong passed by the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on 30 March 2021, the size of the Election Committee (EC) would be increased from 1,200 to 1,500 seats, with an additional 300-seat Fifth Sector to be added to the existing four sectors of 300 seats each.[20] According to the amendment of the Annex II, the newly elected Election Committee would also be responsible for electing 40 of the 90 seats of the redesigned Legislative Council, shrinking the directly elected seats from 35 to 20 seats.[21][22]

The seats of the traditional strongholds of the pro-democrats in the Second Sector of professions, including Education and Social Welfare subsectors, would be halved. The original Education and Higher Education subsectors which had 30 seats each would be merged into a 30-seat subsector, while Medical and Health Services subsectors which had 30 seats each would also be merged into a 30-seat subsector. Some of the seats in the other pro-democratic strongholds would also be nominated rather than elected. For instances, half of 30 members of the newly created Technology and Innovation subsector would be nominated from among Hong Kong academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering; while 15 of the 30-seat Accountancy subsector would be nominated from among Hong Kong accounting advisers appointed by the Chinese Ministry of Finance; nine seats in the Legal subsector would be nominated from the council of the China Law Society. Up to half of the seats from the subsectors of Engineering, Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape, Education, Medical and Health Services, and Social Welfare would be elected by associations instead of individuals.[5]

In the Fourth Sector, all of the 117-seat Hong Kong and Kowloon and New Territories District Councils subsectors on the committee which would be held by the pro-democrats would be eliminated, they would be replaced by "representatives of members of area committees", including members of the government-appointed District Fight Crime Committees and the District Fire Safety Committee of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories who are appointed by the Director of Home Affairs under the Home Affairs Department, as well as representatives of the pro-Beijing associations of Hong Kong residents in the mainland.[5]

Additionally, a new 300-seat Fifth Sector would consist of the 190 seats including the Hong Kong deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), as well as 110 seats comprising representatives of "Hong Kong members of relevant national organisations".[4][5]

Under the amended annexes, a Candidate Eligibility Review Committee would be set up to vet the qualifications of candidates, based on the approval of the Hong Kong Committee for Safeguarding National Security according to the review by the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) of which its decision would be final and could not be appealed.[20][21][22][23]

Under the new system, the registered voters for the Election Committee dropped by almost 97 per cent, sharply declining from 246,440 voters in 2016 to only 7,891 voters in 2021. The Education subsector remained the largest electorates with 1,725 voters, but was also drastically dropped from more than 80,000 voters in the last election. More than half of the 30 seats would also be held by ex officio members, instead of being directly elected. There were also 404 bodies registered as "grassroots organisations" for the newly created Grassroots Associations subsector, but some entities such as the Modern Mummy Group, Tai Kok Tsui Friends, and the Chinese Arts Papercutting Association were little known to the public, and were reportedly all satellite organisations of the pro-Beijing New Territories Association of Societies.[7]

Nominations

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In the nomination period from 6 to 12 August, the Electoral Affairs Commission received a total of 1,016 individual nominations, competing for 967 seats in 36 subsectors. The remaining 533 seats would be nominated by the designated organisations and by ex officio members. Among the 1,016 nominations, 603 of those were returned uncontested. Only 413 candidates who were running in the 13 of the 36 electable subsectors would have a contested race, equal to around a quarter of the Election Committee seats.[9]

On 26 August 2021, Chief Secretary for Administration John Lee, who also chaired the newly established Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, announced that the invalidation of the registration application of the only localist camp legislators Cheng Chung-tai who was supposedly an ex officio member in the Election Committee.[24][25] Pierre Chan, the remaining non-establishment legislator along with Cheng, did not register as ex officio member.[26]

As a result, all but two nominated candidates were from the pro-Beijing camp: moderate party Third Side founder Tik Chi-yuen and pro-democracy Sai Kung District Council chairperson Francis Chau.[9] Jason Poon, another moderate construction company owner who blew the whistle on the 2018 MTR Sha Tin to Central Link construction scandal, failed to be nominated through Religious subsector after drawing lots.[27]

Election results

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See also: List of members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2021–2026

The voting atmosphere in the city was down as 99.9 per cent of Hong Kong voters in legislative election were ineligible to vote in Election Committee elections. The security was tight as the number of deployed police officers outweighed number of voters, about 6,000 police deployed on standby for an election participated by only 4,800 voters.

The election, with the record turnout of 89.77 per cent, was a big win for pro-Beijing camp as expected, winning all but one seats. Tik Chi-yuen was the only non-establishment elected member only after drawing lots due to same number of votes with another candidate. The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) continued their domination in the camp, claiming to have won more than 150 seats. The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) ranked the second with 76 seats, and Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) coming next with at least 40 seats, while the New People's Party and the Liberal Party said to have 21 and more than 15 seats respectively.[28] As some candidates did not reveal their party affiliation, the numbers from the parties could not be verified.

The vote count soon emerged as controversy for consuming 14 hours although there are only 4,389 ballots, much slower than previous elections. The Electoral Affairs Commission apologised for the clumsiness. Some pro-Beijing politicians and parties, including the Chief Executive, demanded the Commission to explain and review the process.

Results by subsector

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Statistics are generated from the official election website:

Sector Sub-sector Registered voters Candidates Elected Votes Turnout
Bodies Individuals Total
I Catering 135 - 135 16 16 uncontested
I Commercial (First) 22 - 22 16 16 uncontested
I Commercial (Second) 71 - 71 17 17 uncontested
I Commercial (Third) 93 - 93 18 17 91 97.85
I Employers' Federation of Hong Kong 18 - 18 15 15 uncontested
I Finance 55 - 55 17 17 uncontested
I Financial Services 195 - 195 17 16 188 96.41
I Hotel 57 - 57 15 15 uncontested
I Import and Export 45 - 45 17 17 uncontested
I Industrial (First) 35 - 35 17 17 uncontested
I Industrial (Second) 97 - 97 17 17 uncontested
I Insurance 88 - 88 20 17 82 93.18
I Real Estate and Construction 91 - 91 16 16 uncontested
I Small and Medium Enterprises 194 - 194 15 15 uncontested
I Textiles and Garment 57 - 57 17 17 uncontested
I Tourism 131 - 131 17 17 uncontested
I Transport 199 - 199 17 17 uncontested
I Wholesale and Retail 63 - 63 17 17 uncontested
I Sub-total for First Sector 1,646 - 1,646 301 296 361 96.01
II Accountancy 39 - 39 15 15 uncontested
II Architectural, Surveying and Planning 55 - 55 17 15 55 100.00
II Chinese Medicine 51 - 51 16 15 50 98.04
II Education 1,750 - 1,750 14 13 1,469 83.94
II Engineering 60 - 60 15 15 uncontested
II Legal 30 - 30 16 15 30 100.00
II Medical and Health Services 82 - 82 24 14 79 96.34
II Social Welfare 144 - 144 24 12 136 94.44
II Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication 223 - 223 14 14 uncontested
II Technology and Innovation 54 - 54 15 14 54 100.00
II Sub-total for Second Sector 2,488 - 2,488 170 142 1,873 86.59
III Agriculture and Fisheries 151 - 151 60 60 uncontested
III Associations of Chinese Fellow Townsmen 324 - 324 57 57 uncontested
III Grassroots Associations 404 - 404 59 59 uncontested
III Labour 407 - 407 72 60 395 97.05
III Sub-total for Third Sector 1,286 - 1,286 248 236 395 97.05
IV Heung Yee Kuk - 160 160 27 27 uncontested
IV Representatives of Members of Area Committees, District Fight Crime Committees, and District Fire Safety Committees of Hong Kong and Kowloon - 1,083 1,083 78 76 969 89.47
IV Representatives of Members of Area Committees, District Fight Crime Committees, and District Fire Safety Committees of the New Territories - 857 857 82 80 791 92.30
IV Sub-total for Fourth Sector - 2,100 2,100 187 183 1,760 90.72
V Representatives of Hong Kong Members of Relevant National Organisations - 451 451 110 110 uncontested
TOTAL 5,420 2,551 7,971 1,016 967 4,389 89.77

Results by affiliation

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Summary of the 19 September 2021 Election Committee Subsector election results
Affiliation 1st Sector 2nd Sector 3rd Sector 4th Sector 5th Sector Total
Standing Elected Standing Elected Standing Elected Standing Elected Standing Elected Standing Elected
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong 7 7 2 2 9 9 43 42 5 5 66 65
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions - - - - 50 46 9 9 1 1 60 56
New People's Party/Civil Force 3 3 - - - - 7 7 - - 10 10
Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions - - - - 15 9 - - - 15 9
Liberal Party 5 5 - - - - 2 2 - - 7 7
Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong - - - - 1 1 2 2 3 3 6 6
Path of Democracy - - 2 2 - - - - - - 2 2
Federation of Public Housing Estates - - - - - - 2 2 - - 2 2
Hong Kong Direct Subsidy Scheme Schools Council - - 1 1 - - - - - - 1 1
Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers - - 1 1 - - - - - - 1 1
Hong Kong Senior Government Officers Association - - - - 1 1 - - - - 1 1
Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association 1 0 - - - - - - - - 1 0
Pro-Beijing independents 285 281 162 135 172 170 123 120 102 102 844 808
Total for pro-Beijing camp 301 296 168 141 248 236 187 183 110 110 1,014 966
Third Side - - 1 1 - - - - - - 1 1
Independent democrat - - 1 0 - - - - - - 1 0
Total 301 296 170 142 248 236 187 183 110 110 1,016 967

Note: There are two candidates have dual membership of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU).

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Of those 7,971 registered voters, 4,889 were obliged to vote as the remaining were voters of the uncontested seats.
  2. ^ Former Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association renamed.
  3. ^ Information Technology subsector replaced.
  4. ^ Nominated from among Hong Kong academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Individual voting replaced.
  6. ^ a b c d Responsible persons of statutory bodies, advisory bodies and relevant associations.
  7. ^ Nominated from among Hong Kong Accounting Advisors appointed by the Ministry of Finance.
  8. ^ Hong Kong members of the Committee for the Basic Law of the HKSAR under the NPC Standing Committee.
  9. ^ Nominated from among Hong Kong members of the Council of the China Law Society.
  10. ^ Education and Higher Education subsectors merged.
  11. ^ University presidents or chairpersons of the board of governors or the council of universities; and responsible persons of statutory bodies, advisory bodies and relevant associations.
  12. ^ a b Originally under the Third Sector.
  13. ^ Nominated respectively by the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Hong Kong Member Association and Hong Kong Publishing Federation.
  14. ^ Medical and Health Services subsectors merged.
  15. ^ Nominated from among Hong Kong members of the Council of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies.
  16. ^ Expanded from the size of the Legislative Council.
  17. ^ Hong Kong and Kowloon District Councils subsector replaced.
  18. ^ New Territories District Councils subsector replaced.
  19. ^ Nominated by associations of Hong Kong residents in the Mainland.
  20. ^ Originally from the Fourth Sector, two subsectors are combined.

References

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  1. ^ "Voter Registration Statistics". The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Voter Registration. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Legco election to be held on December 19". The Standard. 13 April 2021.
  3. ^ "China moves to overhaul Hong Kong politics, squeezing democratic opposition". Reuters. 11 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Overhaul abolishes district council presence". RTHK. 30 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d "Who's in and out on new-look committee picking HK leader". The Standard. 31 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Demanding Loyalty, China Moves to Overhaul Hong Kong Elections". The New York Times. 4 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b Chau, Candice (19 July 2021). "No. of voters picking Hong Kong's Election Committee plunges by 97% under 'patriots only' overhaul". Hong Kong Free Press.
  8. ^ "Hong Kong elite selects powerful new 'patriots only' committee – voters reduced to 4,800, as 6,000 police deployed". AFP. 19 September 2021.
  9. ^ a b c Cheng, Selina (14 August 2021). "Analysis: How almost everyone running for Hong Kong's new election committee will get a seat automatically". Hong Kong Free Press.
  10. ^ "Hong Kong's Carrie Lam 'will reconsider' joining chief executive race after CY Leung backs out". South China Morning Post. 10 December 2016.
  11. ^ "Pro-democracy camp takes record quarter of seats on Election Committee that will choose Hong Kong's leader". South China Morning Post. 12 December 2016.
  12. ^ Connor, Neil (26 March 2017). "The Hong Kong chief executive election: What you need to know". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  13. ^ "Hong Kong voters deliver landslide victory for pro-democracy campaigners". The Guardian. 24 November 2019. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  14. ^ Bradsher, Keith; Ramzy, Austin; May, Tiffany (24 November 2019). "Hong Kong Election Results Give Democracy Backers Big Win". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  15. ^ Graham-Harrison, Emma; Yu, Verna (25 November 2019). "Hong Kong voters deliver landslide victory for pro-democracy campaigners". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  16. ^ "Hong Kong Delays Election, Citing Coronavirus. The Opposition Isn't Buying It". New York Times. 31 July 2020.
  17. ^ "China approves plan to veto Hong Kong election candidates". France 24. 11 March 2021.
  18. ^ "Improving Hong Kong's electoral system important for developing high-quality democracy". China Today. 7 March 2021.
  19. ^ "The Legislative Council House Committee Subcommittee on Decision of the National People's Congress on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" (PDF). Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
  20. ^ a b "Annex I – Method for the Selection of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" (PDF). Xinhua. 30 March 2021.
  21. ^ a b "Xi Finalizes Hong Kong Election Changes, Cementing China Control". Bloomberg. 30 March 2021.
  22. ^ a b "中华人民共和国香港特别行政区基本法附件二香港特别行政区立法会的产生办法和表决程序". 香港中联办. 2021-03-30.
  23. ^ "Annex II – Method for the Formation of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Its Voting Procedures" (PDF). Xinhua. 30 March 2021.
  24. ^ "Candidate Eligibility Review Committee announces lists of validly registered ex-officio members, validly nominated nominees and candidates for Election Committee". Hong Kong Government. 26 August 2021.
  25. ^ Ho, Kelly (26 August 2021). "Hong Kong lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai unseated after failing patriotism test". Hong Kong Free Press.
  26. ^ "選委會候選人等名單刊憲 陳沛然沒有登記為當然委員". RTHK (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 2021-08-26. Retrieved 2021-09-18.
  27. ^ 高振東 (2021-08-16). "選委會︱天主教抽籤結果出爐 潘焯鴻、張俊勇無緣中籤". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2021-09-18.
  28. ^ "提名行政長官須188名選委 門檻高於建制政黨席位". Now 新聞 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 2021-09-21.
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