The 1988 Hong Kong District Board elections were the third district board elections held on 10 March 1988. Election was held to all 19

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

of Hong Kong (in which Yau Tsim District and Mong Kok District later merged into today's

Yau Tsim Mong District Yau Tsim Mong District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong, located on the western part of Kowloon Peninsula. It is the core urban area of Kowloon. The district has the second highest population density of all districts, at . The 2016 By ...

), for 264 members from directly elected constituencies while there were 141 appointed seats and respectively 30 and 27 ex officio members representing the

Urban Council The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Servic ...

and

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 ...

s in

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

Overview

The election oversaw the increasing influence of the political groups in the local elections. The three major emerging pro-democratic groups, which later evolved into today's

pro-democracy camp The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic L ...

, the

Meeting Point Meeting Point ( Chinese: 匯點) was a liberal political organisation and party in Hong Kong formed by a group of former student activists in the 1970s and intellectuals for the discussion for the Sino-British negotiation on the question of Hon ...

Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood The Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) is a Hong Kong pro-democracy social-liberal political party catering to grassroots interest with a strong basis in Sham Shui Po. Established on 26 October 1986, it was on ...

and

Hong Kong Affairs Society The Hong Kong Affairs Society () was a middle class and professionals oriented political organisation formed in 1984 for the discussion for the Hong Kong prospect and political constitution after the handover to China with about 20 members led ...

were the strategic allies against the conservative kaifong leaders in the election. The older political organisation, the

Hong Kong Civic Association The Hong Kong Civic Association is one of the longest-existing political organisations in Hong Kong. Established in 1954 by a group of teachers, professionals and businessmen, the Civic Association was one of the two semi-political parties to ...

cooperated with

Maria Tam Maria Tam Wai-chu (; born 2 November 1945) is a senior Hong Kong politician and lawyer. She is a member of the Committee for the Basic Law of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) since 1997 and the chairman of the Operati ...

Progressive Hong Kong Society The Progressive Hong Kong Society (; PHKS) was a political group in Hong Kong. It was established on 14 February 1985 by the then Executive and Legislative Council member Maria Tam. The party is considered conservative and pro-Beijing, in con ...

, while the Progressive Hong Kong Society and the pro-Beijing leftist

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 ...

remained in low-profile in the election. Some candidates who used to be closely associated with older conservative groups were switching over to the younger liberal camps, such as Vivien Chan stood for the

Reform Club of Hong Kong The Reform Club of Hong Kong was one of the oldest political organisations in Hong Kong, existing from 1949 until the mid-1990s. Established by expatriates who were concerned about the Young Plan proposed by Governor Mark Aitchison Young in 1 ...

in 1985 and was claimed to be one of the influential members in the club had moved over to the Hong Kong Affairs Society. Tony Kan Chung-nin had also swung away from Maria Tam's conservative Progressive Hong Kong Society to the liberal Hong Kong Affairs Society. In this election, the Meeting Point had built a power base in

Tuen Mun Tuen Mun or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the more ...

while the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood in

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

. The Hong Kong Affairs Society had its power base in

Sha Tin Sha Tin, also spelt Shatin, is a neighbourhood along Shing Mun River in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District. Sha Tin is one of the neighbourhoods of the Sha Tin New Town project. The ...

while it tried to test their strength in the Eastern District,

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area n ...

and

Central and Western District The Central and Western District () located on northwestern part of Hong Kong Island is one of the 18 administrative districts of Hong Kong. It had a population of 243,266 in 2016. The district has the most educated residents with the secon ...

, and tried to break the dominance of the older conservative Civic Association. The Reform Club tried to recapture a power base in the Eastern District under the umbrella of

Brook Bernacchi Brook Antony Bernacchi (; 22 January 1922 – 22 September 1996) was a lawyer and politician in Hong Kong. He was the long-time chairman of the Reform Club of Hong Kong, the then quasi-opposition party in the colony and the longest serving ele ...

and concentrated its resources in

Yau Ma Tei Yau Ma Tei is an area in the Yau Tsim Mong District in the south of the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. Name ''Yau Ma Tei'' is a phonetic transliteration of the name (originally written as ) in Cantonese. It can also be spelt as Yaumatei, ...

under

Kwan Lim-ho Kwan Lim-ho (; born 1947) is a Hong Kong lawyer and politician. He was an elected member of the Urban Council of Hong Kong, Eastern District Board and Yau Tsim District Board. Kwan was born in Hong Kong and was graduated from the Tung Wah Hosi ...

. The turnout rate of 30.31 per cent was recorded, 7 points lower than the last election in 1985.

General outcome

, - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Political Affiliation ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Popular vote ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Standing ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Elected , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood , 65,338 , , 10.25 , , 32 , , 27 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 36,666 , , 5.75 , , 22 , , 17 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 42,397 , , 6.65 , , 31 , , 16 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 41,878 , , 6.57 , , 23 , , 16 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 9,570 , , 1.50 , , 7 , , 2 , - , width=1px style="background-color: " , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 3,360 , , 0.53 , , 2 , , 2 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Independent and others , 438,190 , , 68.75 , , 376 , , 183 , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="2", Total (turnout 30.3%) , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 637,399 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.0 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 493 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 264

References

{{Hong Kong elections

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 List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

1988 in Hong Kong

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1988 elections in British Overseas Territories March 1988 events in Asia