Democratic Party (HK) leadership election, 2014

Democratic Party (HK) leadership election
Hong Kong
14 December 2014
 
Candidate Emily Lau Wu Chi-wai
First preferences 50.0% 32.9%
Two-candidate preferred 54.1% 45.9%
 
Candidate Au Nok-hin Stanley Ng
First preferences 10.4% 6.6%
Two-candidate preferred – –
Chairperson before election

Emily Lau

 Elected Chairperson

Emily Lau

The Democratic Party leadership election was held on 14 December 2012 for the the 30-member 11th Central Committee of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, including chairperson and two vice-chairperson posts. Incumbent Chairperson Emily Lau secured her post against three other candidates after two rounds of election.

Electoral method

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.[1] The electoral method changed in this election, the eligibility of members electing a delegate who holds one vote in the congress from 30 members each delegate to only 5 members.[2] Candidate also needs a majority in order to claim victory.[3]

Overview

The election was held right after the Umbrella Movement was cleared out. The 20-year-old Democratic Party sought to reposition itself in the post-Occupy era in which the young generation took a big role.

Emily Lau, Legislative Councillor since 1991, is the incumbent Chairwoman who took the post in the 2012 leadership election. She said she would put more efforts into the district works and electoral campaign.

Lau faced challenges from three other candidates. Wu Chi-wai, Legislative Councillor since 2012 and a long-time Wong Tai Sin District Councillor stressed the importance of the repositioning of the party after the post-Occupy era and taking a leading role in the district works. Stanley Ng, incumbent Treasurer of the party and town planner by profession suggested reform on party's structure, adding the posts of party leader and also deputy secretary. Au Nok-hin who was 27 years old from the young generation, ran for the chairmanship for the second consecutive term. Au was among the vanguard of the youngsters over the fence on 26 September, part of the group launching the Occupation of Civic Plaza, leading to the full blown Umbrella movement.

Candidates

Chairperson

Vice-Chairpersons

Elections

Chairperson election
First round Second round
Candidate Votes % Votes %
Emily Lau Wai-hing 158 50.0 171 54.1
Wu Chi-wai 104 32.9 145 45.9
Au Nok-hin 33 10.4 –
Stanley Ng Wing-fai 21 6.6 –
Vice-Chairperson election
Candidate Votes %
Lo Kin-hei 263 44.1
Andrew Wan Siu-kin 254 42.5
Stanley Ng Wing-fai 80 5.3

Results

The elected members of the 11th Central Committee are listed as following:

Aftermath

After winning the election, Emily Lau noted that the Democrats were very concerned about waning support among young people and called for party to focus on younger generation, working on strategies to engage young people, such as through university student unions and also make more use of social media.[4]

Re-elected Vice-Chairman Lo Kin-hei said, "Voting for Lau should not be interpreted as a lack of motivation for changes in the party. Instead, it means Lau is more experienced in leading the party in the current political environment."[5]

On 23 January 2015, secretary general Cheung Yin-tung and his disciple Kwong Chun-yu resigned their positions on the Central Committee. Some speculated their disaffections towards the dominance of the Mainstreamer faction led by the "triumvirate", Yeung Sum, Cheung Man-kwong and Lee Wing-tat.[6]

In July 2015, former legislator and member of the party central committee Wong Sing-chi was expelled from the Democratic Party due to his defiance of the party line and clandestine proposal in support of the government's constitutional reform package, which was panned by pan-democrats for being "fake universal suffrage".

2015 by-election

A by-election for the three vacancies in the Central Committee was held in the annual party congress on 6 December 2015. Founding member Howard Lam Tsz-kin, Lam Ka-ka and Chau Man-fong who were considered in Chai Man-hon's faction were elected, while Ng Siu-hong of the Hui Chi-fung's faction was not elected. Chai and Ng were considered potential candidates for running in Hong Kong Island in the 2016 Legislative Council election.[7]

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. ↑ "隔牆有耳：白鴿選舉　卿姐愛刺激". Apple Daily. 13 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "八方人物：尹兆堅想做民主黨「膠水」". Apple Daily. 13 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Ng, Joyce (15 December 2014). "Re-elected Democratic Party head Emily Lau calls for party to focus on younger Hong Kong generation". South China Morning Post.
  5. ↑ Wong, Hilary (15 December 2014). "Lau gets Democrat nod again". The Standard.
  6. ↑ "張賢登鄺俊宇辭民主黨中委 被指不滿大佬暗中操控 正副主席不認同". Standnews. 28 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "【李八方online】中西區孖寶吳兆康 中委補選敗陣". Apple Daily. 6 December 2015.
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