Joseph Lai Chi-keong (; born 13 December 1947) is a Hong Kong educator and politician. He is a former chairman of the Eastern District Council and former member of the Eastern District Council since 1988, having representing Fei Tsui from 1994 until 2021. He is member of the Civic Party and a former member of 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 ...

and Urban Council.

Biography

As a teacher, Lai joined the

Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union The Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (HKPTU) was a pro-democracy trade union, professional association and social concern group in Hong Kong. Until its disbandment in 2021, it was the largest teachers' organisation in Hong Kong with s ...

(HKPTU) in the 1980s. He ran in the 1988 District Board election in Chai Wan West. He was the founding member of the United Democrats of Hong Kong and later

. He contested in the 1995 Urban Council election in Quarry Bay and was elected with nearly 6,000 votes. He remained as Eastern District Councillor after 1997. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and 2004 Legislative Council elections, he ran on the Democratic Party's ticket, placing the fourth place and the third place respectively. In 2004, he as the third candidate on the list was nearly elected, being defeated by Choy So-yuk, the second candidate of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) by a narrow margin. Lai was eager to run in the

2000 Hong Kong Island by-election The Hong Kong Island by-election, 2000 was held on 10 December 2000, when then Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) vice-chairman Gary Cheng declined to accept his seat as a result of a scandal. Audrey Eu, who was then running ...

, but was rejected by the party and the leadership decided to support barrister Audrey Eu's candidate. In the 2008 Legislative Council election, Lai quit the Democratic Party after he was not nominated by the party and ran as independent. He failed to be elected with only 3,955 votes, 1.26 per cent of the total vote share. After the election, he joined Audrey Eu's Civic Party. Lai was tipped for running in 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 ...

functional constituency for the Civic Party in the

2012 Legislative Council election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

but did not materialise. In the 2019 District Council election after the pro-democrats received the largest landslide in history and seized the control of the 17 of the 18 District Councils, Lai was elected as the chairman of the Eastern District Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lai, Joseph Chi-keong 1947 births Living people Hong Kong educators Members of the Urban Council of Hong Kong District councillors of Eastern District United Democrats of Hong Kong politicians Democratic Party (Hong Kong) politicians Civic Party politicians Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2017–2021