The Yuen Long District Council () is the district council for the

Yuen Long District Yuen Long District (formerly romanised as Un Long) is one of the districts of Hong Kong. Located in the northwest of the New Territories, it had a population of 662,000 in 2021 Geography Yuen Long District contains the largest alluvial pla ...

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 is one of 18 such councils. The Yuen Long District currently consists of 45 members, of which the district is divided into 39 constituencies, electing a total of 39 with 6 ''ex officio'' members who are the

Shap Pat Heung Shap Pat Heung is an area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Located south of Yuen Long and northeast of Tai Tong, the area occupies the plain north of hills of Tai Lam. The Cantonese name 'Shap Pat Heung' means 'eighteen villages'Antiq ...

San Tin San Tin () is a loosely defined area in Yuen Long District in New Territories, Hong Kong that is part of the San Tin constituency. Unlike Hong Kong's highly urbanised areas, San Tin is sparsely populated due to its marshlands. San Tin is loca ...

Ha Tsuen Ha Tsuen (), or Ha Tsuen Heung () is an area at the west of Yuen Long Town in Hong Kong. Administratively, it belongs to Yuen Long District. History During the Hungwu reign (1368-1398) of the Ming Dynasty, two members of Tang clans in Kam Tin ...

Kam Tin Kam Tin, or Kam Tin Heung, is an area in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It lies on a flat alluvial plain north of Tai Mo Shan mountain and east of Yuen Long town. It was formerly known as Sham Tin (岑田). Administratively, it is part o ...

Ping Shan Ping Shan () is an area in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It is located west of Yuen Long Town and Shui Pin Wai, and south of Tin Shui Wai. Administratively, it is part of the Yuen Long District. Geography Although sandwiched between Yuen L ...

and

Pat Heung Pat Heung is an area in the middle of New Territories, Hong Kong. Located at the east of Kam Tin and north of Shek Kong, it is the exit to Sheung Shui and Fanling. Administratively, it belongs to Yuen Long District. Villages Pat Heung co ...

rural committee Rural committee () is a body representing the welfare of indigenous residents in the New Territories of Hong Kong. The chairman of each rural committee is the representative in the Heung Yee Kuk, and is ''ex officio'' member of a district coun ...

chairmen. The latest election was held on 24 November 2019.

History

The Yuen Long District Council was established on 1 April 1981 under the name of the Yuen Long District Board as the result of the colonial

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Murray MacLehose Crawford Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, (; 16 October 1917 – 27 May 2000), was a British politician, diplomat and the 25th Governor of Hong Kong, from 1971 to 1982. He was the longest-serving governor of the colony, with four ...

's District Administration Scheme reform. The District Board was partly elected with the ''ex-officio'' Regional Council members and chairmen of six Rural Committees, Shap Pat Heung, San Tin, Ha Tsuen, Kam Tin, Ping Shan and Pat Heung, as well as members appointed by the Governor until 1994 when last Governor

Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life pe ...

refrained from appointing any member. The Yuen Long District Board became Yuen Long Provisional District Board after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was established in 1997 with the appointment system being reintroduced by

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Tung Chee-hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born 7 July 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He is currently a vice-chairman of the Chin ...

. The current Yuen Long District Council was established on 1 January 2000 after the first District Council election in 1999. The appointed seats were abolished in 2015 after the modified constitutional reform proposal was passed by the Legislative Council in 2010. The Yuen Long District Council is one of the fastest growing council due to the development of the

new towns A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

of Yuen Long and

Tin Shui Wai Tin Shui Wai New Town is a satellite town in the northwestern New Territories of Hong Kong. Originally a ' fish pond area, it was developed in the 1980s as the second new town in Yuen Long District and the eighth in Hong Kong. It is due northw ...

, and has become the largest council of the territory. It had been tightly dominated by the rural forces due to its vast rural areas and the ''ex-officio'' rural committee representatives. The chairmanship of the council had been taken by rural or rural-related councillors, such as Tai Kuen, chairman from 1985 to 1999, was a rural strongman;

Tang Siu-tong Tang Siu-tong, SBS, JP (born 26 September 1942 in Hong Kong), was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1992 to 2004.

, chairman from 2000 to 2007, was a rural leader which represented the

Hong Kong Progressive Alliance The Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA) was a Pro-Beijing camp, pro-Beijing, pro-business political party in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1994 and was merged into the Demo ...

and was elected to the Legislative Council in 2000 on the pro-Beijing

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) ticket;

Leung Che-cheung Leung Che-cheung, SBS, MH, JP () (born 3 December 1957 in Hong Kong) is a former member of Hong Kong Legislative Council (Geographical constituency New Territories West) and the former Chairman of the Yuen Long District Council for Tin Yiu in ...

, chairman from 2008 to 2015, was a member of the DAB and president of the

New Territories Association of Societies The New Territories Association of Societies (, NTAS) is a pro-Beijing umbrella political group which consists of hundreds of the New Territories community organisations. The founding president of the Association was Lee Lin-sang, who served as ...

(NTAS) who has been Legislative Councillor since 2012. The Tin Shui Wai new town was also dominated by the pro-Beijing forces. The pro-democrats have limited influence in the district, such as

Zachary Wong Zachary Wong Wai-yin (; born 22 December 1957, Hong Kong) is a former Yuen Long District Councillor (representing Nam Ping) for the Meeting Point and later Democratic Party and a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. He join ...

and

Kwong Chun-yu Roy Kwong Chun-yu (; born 9 February 1983) is a Hong Kong politician and novelist. He is a member of the Democratic Party and former member of the Yuen Long District Council for Pek Long. He became a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Ko ...

Long Ping Estate Long Ping Estate () is a mixed Tenants Purchase Scheme, TPS and public housing estate in Wang Chau (Yuen Long), Wang Chau, Yuen Long, New Territories, Hong Kong, near MTR Long Ping station. It is the third public housing estate in Yuen Long Town ...

and the pro-Taipei Democratic Alliance's

Johnny Mak Johnny Mak Ip-sing (; born 1960) is a pro-ROC and pro-democracy politician in Hong Kong. He has been a Yuen Long District Councillor since 1991 and is the current Chairman of the Democratic Alliance. Biography Growing up in a pro-ROC back ...

in Fung Cheung. On the capacity of Yuen Long District Councillor, Kwong was elected to the Legislative Council through the

District Council (Second) The District Council (Second) functional constituency () was a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong which was created in the 2012 constitutional reform package. It was the largest functional constituen ...

constituency in 2016. The pro-Beijing and rural domination was turned over in the 2019 historic landslide victory where the pro-democrats took over all the urban constituencies and a few rural constituencies amid the massive pro-democracy protests. All pro-Beijing councillors in Tin Shui Wai including

Luk Chung-hung Michael Luk Chung-hung (; born 21 September 1978) is a Hong Kong politician. He is a member of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB). He is also member of th ...

of the

Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) is a pro-Beijing labour and political group established in 1948 in Hong Kong. It is the oldest and largest labour group in Hong Kong with over 420,000 members in 253 affiliates and associated ...

(FTU) being unseated and some rural incumbents were also surprisingly defeated. As a result, the pro-democrats took 33 of the 39 elected seats and seized control of the 45-member council for the first time.

Political control

Since 1982 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:

Political makeup

Current Map of Yuen Long District Council

Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

are held every four years.

District result maps

File:1994DBelectionmapm.svg, 1994 File:1999DCelectionmapm.svg, 1999 File:2003DCelectionmapm.svg, 2003 File:2007DCelectionmapm.svg, 2007 File:2011DCelectionmapm.svg, 2011 File:Yuen Long District Council 2015.svg, 2015 File:Yuen Long District Council (2019).svg, 2019

Members represented

Starting from 1 January 2020:

Leadership

Chairs

Since 1985, the chairman is elected by all the members of the board:

Vice Chairs

Notes

References

External links

Yuen Long District Council
{{Yuen Long District Council Constituencies Districts of Hong Kong Yuen Long District