Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, geographical constituencies, as opposed to

functional constituencies A functional constituency is an electoral device (a non-geographical constituency) used within the political systems of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China: * Functional constituency (Hong Kong) * Functional cons ...

, are elected by all eligible voters according to geographically demarcated

constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

. There are currently 5 geographical constituencies in Hong Kong, returning 35 members to the Legislative Council. Following the 2021 electoral reforms passed by the

Standing Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

of the mainland

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

, the number of members returned by geographical constituencies would be lowered to 20, while the total number of seats in the Legislative Council would be increased to 90.

History

Geographical constituencies (GC) were first introduced in Hong Kong's first legislative election with direct elections in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. 18 constituencies, each returning 2 members using

plurality block voting Plurality block voting, also known as plurality-at-large voting, block vote or block voting (BV) is a non- proportional voting system for electing representatives in multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of sea ...

was created for the 1991 election. Under Chris Patten's

electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-ru ...

, single-member constituencies were introduced for geographical constituencies in the 1995 election. After the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the

Provisional Legislative Council The Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) was the interim legislature of Hong Kong that operated from 1997 to 1998. The legislature was founded in Guangzhou and sat in Shenzhen from 1996 (with offices in Hong Kong) until the handover in 1997 an ...

enacted the Legislative Council Ordinance (Cap. 542) which stipulated the use of party-list

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

with seats apportioned by the

largest remainder method The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with various h ...

under the

Hare Quota The Hare quota (also known as the simple quota) is a formula used under some forms of proportional representation. In these voting systems the quota is the number of votes that guarantees a candidate, or a party in some cases, captures a seat. Th ...

. Between 1998 and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, 5 geographical constituencies were established returned by proportional representation with 3-9 seats each: In 2010, the Government's motion for amending Annex II of the Basic Law was passed. As a result, 5 new seats were added to Geographical Constituencies, making a total of 35.

Changes to electoral system

The following table summarises the changes to the electoral system of Geographical Constituencies since 1991:

Changes to districting

The following table charts the evolution of districting of geographical constituencies of the LegCo:

2021 electoral reform

20 seats of the Legislative Council are returned by geographical constituencies (GC) through

single non-transferable vote Single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used to elect multiple winners. It is a generalization of first-past-the-post, applied to multi-member districts with each voter casting just one vote. Unlike FPTP, which is a single-winn ...

with a district magnitude of 2 ("binomial system"). The binomial system was instituted by the

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is the highest organ of state po ...

in its amendment to Annex 2 of the Basic Law on 30 March 2021. The proportional representation system used between 1998 and 2016 was scrapped. The reduction of the number of members returned by geographic constituencies has been described as "significantly curbing democratic representation in Hong Kong's institutions". These changes have been described as a shift in power away from Hong Kong's urban core and towards the outer, less densely-populated regions closer to mainland China, where pro-Beijing candidates tend to fare better. 10 geographical constituencies were established for the 2021 election:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geographical Constituency Politics of Hong Kong

Legislative election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Legislative Council of Hong Kong Constituencies

History

Changes to electoral system

Changes to districting

2021 electoral reform

See also

References