The 2000 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 10 September 2000 for members of the 2nd Legislative Council (LegCo) of the

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 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 Delta ...

(HKSAR). The election returned 24 members from directly elected

geographical constituencies In Hong Kong, geographical constituencies, as opposed to functional constituencies, are elected by all eligible voters according to geographically demarcated constituencies. There are currently 5 geographical constituencies in Hong Kong, return ...

, 6 seats from the Election Committee constituency and 30 members from functional constituencies, of which 9 uncontested. The election saw the decline in turnout rate from 53.29 percent in 1998 to 43.57 percent. The Democratic Party was able to maintain the largest party status in the legislature by retaining 12 seats, despite its vote share fell sharply by eight percent, if including Lau Chin-shek from the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU) running in the same ticket with Democrat James To in Kowloon West, from 42 percent in 1998 to 34 percent in 2000. In contrast, the pro-Beijing rival Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) raised its vote share over two years by five percent, to 29.6 percent if including Tang Siu-tong from the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA). As a result, the DAB won 11 seats, a sharp increase of three seats from the previous election, making it the second largest political party in the legislature, despite an alleged corruption scandal involving its vice-chairman

Cheng Kai-nam Gary Cheng Kai Nam (, born 29 May 1950, in Hong Kong with family roots in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China) is a Hong Kong politician who served as vice-chairman for the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong party. He was edu ...

at the peak of the campaign. Cheng did not take his office and a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

in December was won by 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 ...

independent Audrey Eu. The

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 ...

won 21 seats in total, of which 16 of those returned from the directly elected geographical constituencies, one seat more than the previous election which secured the one-thirds vote to veto any government's proposal of any constitutional amendment. As of , these were the last elections won by a party other than the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong which began to dominate Hong Kong politics from

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

Change in composition

According to the Annex II of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, the number of the Election Committee constituency indirectly elected by the 800-member

Election Committee The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, to elect 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Ho ...

would reduce from 10 seats to 6 seats, while the directly elected

geographical constituency In Hong Kong, geographical constituencies, as opposed to functional constituencies, are elected by all eligible voters according to geographically demarcated constituencies. There are currently 5 geographical constituencies in Hong Kong, return ...

seats would increase from 20 to 24. As a result, each geographical constituency except the

New Territories East New Territories East is the eastern part of New Territories, covering North, Tai Po, Sha Tin, and Sai Kung District. History All districts except Sai Kung District have been connected by the Kowloon–Canton Railway (now East Rail line) since it ...

was added one extra seat. After the two municipal councils, 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

Regional Council Regional Council may refer to: * Regional Council (Hong Kong), disbanded in 1999 ** Regional Council (constituency) Regional council may refer to: * Regional council (Cameroon) * Regional council (France), the elected assembly of a region of Fran ...

, were abolished in 1999, the two corresponding functional constituencies were also abolished and replaced by the

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...

and

Catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major servi ...

seats.

Parties and candidates

A total of 155 candidates representing ten political parties and candidates who were independents or not non-affiliated ran for the total number of 60 seats. 88 of whom ran in the 24 directly elected geographical constituencies, 57 for the 30 indirectly elected functional constituencies and 10 were nominated for the 6 Election Committee seats. * The Democratic Party, chaired by

Martin Lee Martin Lee Chu-ming, SC, JP (; born 8 June 1938) is a Hong Kong politician and barrister. He is the founding chairman of the United Democrats of Hong Kong and its successor, the Democratic Party, Hong Kong's flagship pro-democracy party. He ...

, was the largest pro-democracy party holding 13 seats in the first Legislative Council term. Despite being perceived as anti-Beijing, the party's manifesto stated clear support for China's sovereignty over Hong Kong and Hong Kong's status as an "indivisible part of China." Nevertheless, the party was strongly identified with democratic principles, including "democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law." It believed in a rapid pace for Hong Kong's democratic development. The party filled tickets in all five geographical constituencies besides its candidacies in the functional constituencies including

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

Social Welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

and

. It was also the first time the party deployed separate tickets in the New Territories West in hope of winning three seats by purchasing seats with remainder votes 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. T ...

system. * The Liberal Party, chaired by

James Tien James Tien is the name of: *James Tien (actor) (; born 1942), Hong Kong actor from Guangdong *James Tien (politician) (; born 1947), Hong Kong politician, former Liberal Party chairman and Legislative Council member *James M. Tien, American enginee ...

, was the party representing big-business interests. Its manifesto was "Energise Our Economy, Enrich Our Lives." Although its economic inclinations were the opposite of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), it also had pro-Beijing sympathies like the latter. After the defeat of former chairman Allen Lee in direct election in 1998, the party only filled two tickets in the geographical constituencies while its core members remained relying heavily on the business sectors of the functional constituencies. * The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), chaired by Tsang Yok-sing, was the pro-Beijing party representing the Beijing interests in Hong Kong. It called for gradual and step-by step progress towards democratisation and supported for social welfare improvements, including greater spending on education, housing, employee retraining which had given it strong grassroots supports. Holding 10 seats in the first Legislative Council term, the DAB won five directly elected seats in the 1998 election, taking advantages from the

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 ...

system installed by Beijing. * The Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA), chaired by Ambrose Lau, was a small pro-Beijing party which had a pro-business stance which assuring another voting block support of Beijing interests. It heavily relied on the seats in the indirectly elected functional constituencies and Election Committee seats. In the election, the party filled a ticket in New Territories East for the first time and a candidate with rural background Tang Siu-tong in the DAB ticket in New Territories West. * The Frontier, headed by Emily Lau was active on human rights and environmental issues and routinely criticised both Hong Kong and Beijing governments on matters involving individual rights and freedoms. The Frontier believed the Basic Law should be redrafted and advocated democracy and freedom in China and Hong Kong. The party had strong support in New Territories East where saw its two incumbents Emily Lau and Cyd Ho got elected. Ho ran in Hong Kong Island in the coming election, targeting retiring Citizens Party's Christine Loh's seat. * The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU), presided by Lau Chin-shek, was a pro-democracy labour union. It had strong pro-grassroots and pro-labour inclination besides its pro-democracy stance. It had two incumbents Lau Chin-shek and

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 Manuf ...

who ran as Democratic Party and The Frontier candidates respectively in the last election. After quitting the Democratic Party, Lau would run in the joint ticket with Democratic Party's James To in Kowloon West in the coming election. * The

Neighbourhood and Worker's 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) had its sole legislator Leung Yiu-chung ran for his re-election in New Territories West. Largely pro-democracy and pro-grassroots, the NWSC had its strong base in public housing estates in

Kwai Chung Kwai Chung is an urban area within Tsuen Wan New Town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District District of Hong Kong. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town. In 2000, it had a p ...

. * The New Century Forum, headed by Ng Ching-fai, was newly formed small party with a pro-middle class inclination. It had two members in the first Legislative Council term, Ng Ching-fai and Ma Fung-kwok, both were elected through the Election Committee, despite the two were running for re-election as nonpartisans. The party would also run in Hong Kong Island and New Territories East with tickets led by former civil servant

David Lan David Lan is a South African-born British playwright, theatre producer and director and a social anthropologist. Career Born in Cape Town, he trained as an actor and gained a BA at the University of Cape Town. He has lived in London since 197 ...

and

Law Cheung-kwok Law Cheung-kwok (born 26 September 1949, Hong Kong) was a member of the Sai Kung District Council (1994–2007) representing Hong King. He was also a member of the Legislative Council (1995–97) representing for the Election Committee. He joi ...

respectively. * The Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), chaired by Frederick Fung, was a major party before 1997 until it lost all its seat in the first Legislative Council election in 1998. It had a moderate pro-democracy stance and strong pro-grassroots inclination. It filled in one ticket in its strong base Kowloon West in the coming election with chairman Frederick Fung and vice-chairman Bruce Liu. * The April Fifth Action was a small socialist group in which "Longhair"

Leung Kwok-hung Leung Kwok-hung ( zh, t=梁國雄; born 27 March 1956), also known by his nickname "Long Hair" (), is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council, representing the New Territories East. A Trotskyist ...

was its most well-known figure. It called for radical political changes with a strong anti-government rhetoric. Leung Kwok-hung would be running in the New Territories East in the coming election.

Retiring incumbents

Ambrose Cheung Ambrose Cheung Wing-sum, BBS, JP (; born 10 January 1951) is a businessman, solicitor and is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in 1998–2000 for the Urban Council constituency and incumbent Sham Shui Po District Council ...

, representing the Provisional Urban Council resigned from the Legislative Council as protest to the government's decision on abolishing the two municipal councils,

and

and their corresponding Legislative Council constituencies in 2000. No by-election was held due to the short period before the general election.

General result

2000 Hong Kong legislative election result by party

Before election: Change in composition: , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:center;" rowspan=2 colspan=3, Parties and allegiances ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" colspan=4 , Geographical constituencies ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" colspan=4 , Functional constituencies ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" rowspan=2 , ECC
seats ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" rowspan=2 , Total
seats ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" rowspan=2 , ± , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , ± pp ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Seats ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , ± pp ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Seats , - , rowspan=5 style="text-align:left;background-color:Pink;border-bottom-style:hidden;", , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong , 374,780 , 28.40 , 3.17 , 7 , 1,493 , 1.68 , 1.30 , 3 , 1 , 11 , 2 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Liberal Party , 24,858 , 1.88 , 1.52 , 0 , 4,416 , 4.96 , 3.23 , 8 , 0 , 8 , 2 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Progressive Alliance , 25,773 , 1.95 , ''N/A'' , 1 , 133 , 0.15 , 0.41 , 1 , 2 , 4 , 1 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , New Century Forum , 21,103 , 1.60 , ''N/A'' , 0 , – , – , – , – , 1 , 1 , 1 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Pro-government individuals and others , 14,534 , 1.10 , – , 0 , 30,571 , 34.34 , , 13 , 2 , 15 , − , -style="background-color:Pink" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=3 , Total for pro-Beijing camp , 461,048 , 34.94 , 4.55 , 8 , 30,571 , 41.12 , 9.01 , 25 , 6 , 39 , 0 , - , rowspan=7 style="text-align:left;background-color:LightGreen;width:1px;border-bottom-style:hidden;" , , style="background-color:;width:1px", , style="text-align:left;" , Democratic Party , 417,873 , 31.66 , , 9 , 40,624 , 45.63 , 17.44 , 3 , – , 12 , 0 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions , 96,752 , 7.33 , ''N/A'' , 2 , – , – , – , – , – , 2 , 0 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , The Frontier , 89,529 , 6.78 , 3.25 , 2 , – , – , – , – , – , 2 , 0 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood , 62,717 , 4.75 , 0.75 , 1 , – , – , – , – , – , 1 , 1 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 59,348 , 4.50 , ''N/A'' , 1 , – , – , – , – , – , 1 , 0 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , April Fifth Action , 18,235 , 1.38 , ''N/A'' , 0 , − , − , − , − , − , 0 , 0 , - , style="background-color:", , style="text-align:left;" , Pro-democracy individuals and others , 54,795 , 4.15 , – , 1 , 9,066 , 10.18 , , 2 , – , 3 , − , -style="background-color:LightGreen" , style="text-align:left;" colspan=3 , Total for pro-democracy camp , 799,249 , 60.56 , 5.59 , 16 , 49.690 , 55.81 , 9.74 , 5 , – , 21 , 1 , - , style="background-color:" , , style="text-align:left;" colspan=2 , Non-partisan individuals and others , 59,397 , 4.50 , , 0 , 2,729 , 3.07 , , 0 , – , 0 , − , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3", Total , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 1,319,694 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 24 , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 89,032 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 30 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 6 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 60 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 0 , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan=14, , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3", Valid votes , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 1,319,694 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 99.14 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.22 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9" rowspan="4" , , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 89,032 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 96.66 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 1.31 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="4" rowspan="4" , , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3", Invalid votes , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 11,386 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.86 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 0.22 , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 3,080 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 3.34 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 1.31 , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3", Votes cast / turnout , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 1,331,080 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 43.57 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 9.72 , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 92,112 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 56.50 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 7.00 , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9" colspan="3", Registered voters , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 3,055,378 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 9.30 , width="75" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 163,030 , width="40" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=14 , 9 candidates in 9 functional constituencies were elected unopposed to the Legislative Council.
(Total votes added up by this reference)
2000LegCoElectionRingCharts

Vote summary

Seat summary

Incumbents defeated

Four incumbents lost re-election.

Results breakdown

Geographical constituencies (24 seats)

Voting System:

Closed Closed may refer to: Mathematics * Closure (mathematics), a set, along with operations, for which applying those operations on members always results in a member of the set * Closed set, a set which contains all its limit points * Closed interval, ...

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be u ...

with 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 variou ...

and

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. T ...

Functional Constituencies (30 seats)

Voting systems: Different voting systems apply to different functional constituencies, namely for the Heung Yee Kuk, Agriculture and Fisheries,

Insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

and

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

, the preferential elimination system of voting; and for the remaining 24 FCs used the

first-past-the-post voting system In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

Election Committee (6 seats)

References

External links

Official Government election site
{{Hong Kong elections 2000 elections in China 2000 in Hong Kong

Legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

Legislative Council of Hong Kong September 2000 events in China