The Kwai Tsing District Council () is the district council for the

Kwai Tsing District Kwai Tsing is one of the districts of Hong Kong, 18 districts of Hong Kong. It consists of two parts - Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi, Tsing Yi Island. Kwai Tsing is part of the New Territories. It had a population of 520,572 in 2016. The district h ...

in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. It currently consists of 32 members of which 31 are directly elected from the 31 constituencies of the district, one ex-officio member who is the

Tsing Yi Rural Committee Tsing Yi Rural Committee () is a rural committee dealing with matters of the village of Tsing Yi Island in Hong Kong. Representatives See also * List of villages in Hong Kong The following is a list of villages in Hong Kong. Villages in ...

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

History

The Kwai Tsing District Council was originally part of the Tsuen Wan District Board until 1985, when a separate Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi District Board was established on 1 April 1985 due to the rapid expansion of population. It was renamed into today's Kwai Tsing District Council in 1988, making it the second youngest existing district council after

Yau Tsim Mong District Council The Yau Tsim Mong District Council is the district council of Hong Kong, district council for the Yau Tsim Mong District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Yau Tsim Mong District Council currently consists of 20 members, of which ...

. The District Board was partly elected with the ''ex-officio'' Regional Council members and

chairman, 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 Kwai Tsing District Board became Kwai Tsing 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 Kwai Tsing District Council was established on 1 January 2000 after the first District Council election in 1999. The appointed seats were abolished in 2011 after the modified constitutional reform proposal was passed by the Legislative Council in 2010. The Kwai Tsing District Council had been a stronghold of 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 ...

from 1985 until 2015. Prominent pro-democracy politicians

Lee Wing-tat Lee Wing-tat (; born 25 December 1955) is a former Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), returned by direct election as representative of the New Territories West constituency. He was the former third Chairman of the Democr ...

Sin Chung-kai Sin Chung-kai (; born 15 June 1960) is a former member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. He was the chairman and a member of Kwai Tsing District Council for the Wah Lai constituency. He was one of the two vice-chairmen of the Democratic ...

and

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 ...

were among the seven pro-democrat activists to become the first members of the council. Lee and Sin had served as council chairmen from 1988 to 1991 and from 1991 to 1994 respectively, representing the

Hong Kong 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 one ...

(ADPL). The ADPL dominance was replaced by 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 ...

when the ADPL core members joined the Democrats in the 1990s. The Democratic Party with 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), which had a strong presence in Shek Yam and

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 populat ...

, had comfortable control of the council throughout the 1980s and the early SAR period until their influence began to eclipse in the late 2000s with the pro-Beijing camp actively absorbed the former pro-democrat independents and the

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress 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 ...

(DAB) and 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) developed their bases in the district. In the 2007 election when the pan-democrats suffered a territory-wide devastating loss which saw the pro-Beijing camp gained majority of the council for the first time, with the help of the reintroduction of appointment system, where the

would appoint pro-government councillors to set off the pro-democracy influence. In the 2015 election, the Democrats lost its largest party status to DAB for the first time in which the Democrats' seats were down to four by losing half of their seats including the seat in Shek Yam held by its vice-chairman

Andrew Wan Andrew Wan Siu-kin (; born 7 June 1969) is the former vice-chairman of the Democratic Party and a former member of the Kwai Tsing District Council for Shek Yam constituency. He was elected in the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election th ...

and the DAB doubled their seats from four to eight, despite the appointment system was abolished in the election. The pro-democrats turned the tide when they scored a landslide victory in the 2019 election amid the massive pro-democracy protests and regained the control of the council by taking 27 of the 31 elected seats. Notable defeated incumbents included legislator Alice Mak of FTU in

Wai Ying Wai or WAI may refer to : Places * Wai, Maharashtra, a small town in India ** Wai (Vidhan Sabha constituency), a Maharashtra Legislative Assembly constituency centered around the town * Wao State (Vav, Wai, Way), a former princely state in Banas ...

, while Democratic legislator Andrew Wan regained back his Shek Yam seat from his opponent from DAB.

Political control

Since 1985 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:

Political makeup

Current Map of Kwai Tsing 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:1994DBelectionmaps.svg, 1994 File:1999DCelectionmaps.svg, 1999 File:2003DCelectionmaps.svg, 2003 File:2007DCelectionmaps.svg, 2007 File:2011DCelectionmaps.svg, 2011 File:Kwai Tsing District Council 2015.svg, 2015 File:Kwai Tsing District Council (2019).svg, 2019

History

Political control

Political makeup

District result maps

Members represented

Leadership

Chairs

Vice Chairs

Notes

References