Nelson Wong
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Nelson Wong Sing-chi (born 11 October 1957) is a Hong Kong politician and social worker. He had been member of the
Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong ...
between 2000–04 and 2008–12. He was the founding 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 ...
before he was expelled in 2015 for his support in the government's constitutional reform proposals. He was also briefly a founding member of the Third Side, a centrist political party. He is also former member of the North District Council and Regional Council.


Background

Wong was born in Hong Kong in 1957. He obtained his
Bachelor of Social Work A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...
from
Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a public research university located in Hung Hom, Hong Kong near Hung Hom station. The University is one of the eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Founded ...
and was a social worker before joining Hong Kong politics. He was the member of the Meeting Point a liberal party and was first elected to the
North District Board The North District Council () is one of the 18 Hong Kong district councils and represents the North District. It is one of 18 such councils. Consisting of 22 members, the district council is drawn from 18 constituencies, which elect 18 members, ...
in Choi Yuen with party mate Tik Chi-yuen. He became the founding 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 ...
when the Meeting Point was merged with the United Democrats of Hong Kong. He lost his seat in North District Council in the 1994 District Board elections to So Sai-chi of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), who became his long-time rival in the area. He was nevertheless elected to the Regional Council in 1995 and served until it was abolished in 1999.


Legco member

Wong ran for the Legislative Council (Legco) in New Territories North in 1995 but lost to DAB's Cheung Hon-chung. He ran in
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 ...
in the 1998 Legislative Council election, placing second on the list behind
Andrew Cheng Kar-foo Andrew Cheng Kar-foo () (born 28 April 1960 in Hong Kong) was a Hong Kong politician and solicitor. He is a former Democratic Party member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the New Territories East geographical constituency. ...
and helped Cheng to get elected. In the 2000 election, the Democratic Party split Cheng and Wong into two tickets to avoid wasting the votes as the electoral mechanism was
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 various h ...
and the strategy got them both elected with fewer votes. He lost in
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 6 ...
through a weak electoral strategy; as all the pro-democratic candidates formed a combined party-list in the election, Wong was placed in fourth behind Andrew Cheng,
Emily Lau Wai-hing Emily may refer to: * Emily (given name), including a list of people with the name Music * "Emily" (1964 song), title song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer to the film ''The Americanization of Emily'' * "Emily" (Dave Koz song), a 1990 song ...
and Ronny Tong Ka-wah who all got elected. Before that he also lost his seat in the District Council in
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
as his changed his constituency to challenge So Sai-chi in Choi Yuen. He returned to the Legco in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
in a successful
strategic voting Strategic voting, also called tactical voting, sophisticated voting or insincere voting, occurs in voting systems when a voter votes for another candidate or party than their ''sincere preference'' to prevent an undesirable outcome. For example, ...
with Andrew Cheng. In June 2010, he voted with his party in favour of the government's 2012 constitutional reform package, which included the late amendment by the Democratic Party – accepted by the Beijing government – to hold a popular vote for five new District Council
functional constituencies A functional constituency is an electoral device (a non-geographical constituency) used within the political systems of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China: * Functional constituency (Hong Kong) * Functional cons ...
. He also returned to North District Council in 2007 election, running in
Shek Wu Hui Shek Wu Hui () is a non-administrative subdivision (neighbourhood) and former indigenous market town located in Sheung Shui in the North District of Hong Kong. The place name can be found in the record that published in 1819. Administration For ...
. In 2011, he was defeated by So Sai-chi again in Choi Yuen. Wong was defeated in the
2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...
, which left the Democratic Party only one representative in New Territories East, Emily Lau.


Gay rights

Wong is an evangelical Christian and a social conservative. He opposed amendments to the Domestic Violence Ordinance that would offer same-sex couples equal protection under the law on the grounds that the amendment would include same-sex relationships as if they were couples. He opposed the government would take actions go a step further to make laws which prohibited discrimination against the LGBT people. This position give him as the same attitude with other pro-Beijing conservative members in Legco, such as
Priscilla Leung Priscilla Leung Mei-fun (; born 18 November 1960, Hong Kong) is a barrister and Hong Kong Legislative Councillor, representing the Election Committee since 2022. She previously represented the Kowloon West constituency from 2008 to 2021. She ...
. Wong's conservative stances on gay rights made him different with other pan-democrats, which many of them take liberal stances on social issues.


Third Side

In July 2015, Wong was expelled from the Democratic Party due to his defiance of the party line and clandestine proposal in support of the government's constitutional reform package, which was panned by pan-democrats for being "fake universal suffrage". He later set up a moderate party, the Third Side, with ex-Democrat Tik Chi-yuen which aimed for a middle-of-the-road approach between the pan-democrats and pro-Beijing camp. He ran in the 2015 District Council election in Fanling South in his North District base but was not elected. In 2016, he also ran in the Legislative Council by-election in
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 ...
, receiving 17,295 votes, 4% of the total ballots and failed to return to the Legislative Council. In July 2016, he left the Third Side to contest the Social Welfare constituency in the upcoming legislative election after failing to get the party's approval. He received the fewest votes in the five-candidate contest.


References


External links

*
Official site of Wong Sing-chi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Singchi 1957 births Living people Hong Kong social workers Hong Kong Christians District councillors of North District Alumni of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Members of the Regional Council of Hong Kong Charter 08 signatories Democratic Party (Hong Kong) politicians Meeting Point politicians HK LegCo Members 2000–2004 HK LegCo Members 2008–2012 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2007–2012