The Frontier was a

pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

political group in

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 ...

. It was founded on 26 August 1996 by a group of Legislative Council members and democratic activists headed by Convenor

Emily Lau Emily may refer to: * Emily (given name), including a list of people with the name Music * "Emily" (1964 song), title song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer to the film ''The Americanization of Emily'' * "Emily" (Dave Koz song), a 1990 song ...

. It was merged into the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, the pro-democracy flagship party on 23 November 2008. A new party bearing the same name was established in 2010 by former members who opposed the previous Frontier joining the Democratic Party.

Beliefs

Among the pro-democratic parties, the Frontier took a relatively radical political agenda than the

. Besides upholding

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

and fighting for

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

, it called for a new constitution drafted by the Hong Kong people to replace the

Hong Kong Basic Law The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 ...

, which led to a direct confrontation to the PRC central government. For its continuing challenge to the central and SAR governments, it was described as a "head-bander" party. The group had a left wing position on economic matters, with both membership and legislators except Emily Lau heavily involved in labour and worker activities.

History

The Frontier was officially launched on 26 August 1996 by one of Hong Kong's most popular pro-democracy figures,

. The founding members included her colleagues in the Legislative Council,

Lee Cheuk-yan Lee Cheuk-yan (; born 12 February 1957 in Shanghai) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1995 to 2016, when he lost his seat. He represented the Kowloon West and the Manufac ...

and

Lau Chin-shek Lau Chin-shek (born 12 September 1944 in Guangzhou, Guangdong with family root in Shunde, Guangdong) is the President of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and a vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee. He was born ...

from the

Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) was a pro-democracy labour and political group in the Hong Kong. It was established on 29 July 1990. It had 160,000 members in 61 affiliates (mainly trade unions in various sectors) and rep ...

(CTU),

Leung Yiu-chung Leung Yiu-chung (, born 19 May 1953) is a Hong Kong politician. He is a member of the pro-labour Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre, part of the pan-democracy camp, and a former long-time member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kon ...

from the

Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre The Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre (NWSC) is a pro-democracy political group in Hong Kong, holding one seat in the Legislative Council from 1995 to 1997, and since 1998. It was founded in 1985, with its roots in the New Youth Study S ...

(NWSC) and Independent Elizabeth Wong, as well as about 100 professionals, students and unionists. It had five seats in the last days in the colonial legislature, making it the second-largest pro-democracy group after the

. The Frontier did not regard itself as a political party, but rather as an alliance for "democracy, human rights and the rule of law" in Hong Kong. In the 1998 LegCo elections, the Frontier won total of three seats, excluding Lau Chin-shek who ran as Democratic Party candidate and Leung Yiu-chung ran as Independent, gaining about 10% of the popular votes just behind the pro-democracy flagship party Democratic Party and

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp, pro-government camp or pro-China camp refers to a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) t ...

flagship party

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a pro-Beijing conservative political party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Starry Lee and holding 13 Legislative Council seats, it is currently the largest party in the l ...

(DAB). Emily Lau and

Cyd Ho Cyd Ho Sau-lan () is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco) for the Hong Kong Island constituency. She is a founding member of the Labour Party, since December 2011, and currently holds the position of vice-chairwoman ...

were elected with the highest votes in the New Territories East. Although Emily Lau, Cyd Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan were re-elected in the 2000 LegCo elections, Lee Cheuk-yan began to run under the banner of the CTU. which made the Frontier's seat in the legislature reduce to two. In April 2002, a number of radical " Young Turks" faction of the Democratic Party including

Andrew To Andrew To Kwan-hang (; born 7 February 1966) is a Hong Kong politician and activist. He is the former chairman of the League of Social Democrats and former member of the Wong Tai Sin District Council. Early life, education and student activis ...

who had earlier formed a group called the

Social Democratic Forum The Social Democratic Forum (, SDF) was a short-lived political group in Hong Kong formed by the radical faction of the Democratic Party. It consisted mostly the "Young Turks" faction of the Democratic Party which took a more pro-grassroots and str ...

(SDF), split from the Democrats to join the Frontier. In the 2004 LegCo elections, the Frontier won only one seat in the LegCo, occupied by Emily Lau, after Cyd Ho lost in the

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

. This was believed to be caused by a tactical mistake by the Democratic Party to absorb too many votes from Cyd Ho which led to the defeat of Ho to DAB's

Choy So-yuk Choy So-yuk, BBS, JP (, born 10 October 1950) is a Hong Kong politician. She was an elected member of Eastern District Council and a Hong Kong Deputy of the National People’s Congress. From 1997 to 2008 she was a member of the Legislative C ...

. On 23 November 2008 after the LegCo elections, the Frontier declared to merge with the Democratic Party, but the motion to have it disbanded failed to meet the required support level of 80%. A new party bearing the same name was established on 9 September 2010 by former members who opposed the previous Frontier joining the Democratic Party. Yang Sun-kong, the former Secretary General of the Frontier became the Convenor of the new group which is now part of the radical pro-democracy

People Power "People Power" is a political term denoting the populist driving force of any social movement which invokes the authority of grassroots opinion and willpower, usually in opposition to that of conventionally organised corporate or political for ...

. Emily Lau became the Vice-Chairwoman of the Democratic Party and was subsequently elected as the party's Chairwoman in 2012 leadership election.

Electoral performance

Legislative Council elections

District Council elections

References

External links

Press cuttings of "Young Turks" joining The Frontier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frontier 1996 establishments in Hong Kong 2008 disestablishments in Hong Kong Defunct political parties in Hong Kong Liberal parties in Hong Kong Political parties disestablished in 2008 Political parties established in 1996 Social democratic parties in Hong Kong