The 1994 Hong Kong electoral reform was a significant constitutional changes in the last years of the British colonial rule in Hong Kong before the handover of its sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in July 1997. The reform proposal was carried out by the last governor Chris Patten to largely broaden the electorate base of the last three-tiers elections in 1994 and 1995:

The reform was ferociously opposed by the the Chinese Communist Party government as the violation to the Sino-British agreement. In result, the CCP government terminated the 1995 elected legislature with the expiration of British administration and replaced with the Provisional Legislative Council.

Background

The decision of transfer of the sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 was finalised by the PRC and UK governments on 18 December 1984 in the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The Declaration stated that the PRC government would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories) with effect from 1 July 1997 from the UK Government. Within these declarations the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be directly under the authority of the Central People’s Government of the PRC and shall enjoy a high degree of autonomy except for foreign and defense affairs. It shall be allowed to have executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication.

The colonial government published the Green Paper: The Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong on 18 July 1984, decided to carry out democratic reform in Hong Kong. The first indirect Legislative Council election was held in 1985 and direct election was first introduced in the 1991 Legislative Council election, despite the demand of the Hong Kong pro-democracy camp on a fully direct election in 1988 was turned down by the colonial government.

The Tiananmen Square crackdown on 4 June 1989 sparked the great fear towards China among the Hong Kong people. The British Government strengthened its resolve to fasten to pace of democratisation, in order to honour its obligation to the Hong Kong citizens and gracefully retreat from the colony.[1]

In 1992, British prime minister John Major decide that David Wilson should step down as governor of Hong Kong and removed Percy Cradock as foreign policy adviser. To some observers, these personnel changes signaled that the British government was unhappy with its two most important experts on Hong Kong and how Sino-British affairs were proceeding.[2]

Chris Patten, the chairman of the Conservative Party was appointed as the 28th governor of Hong Kong and the first politician appointed to the post. The arrival of Chris Patten on 9 July 1992 marked the new phrase of the democratic transition.[1]

Proposal

On 7 October 1992 during his inaugural policy address to the Legislative Council, Chris Patten announced the 1994-95 electoral arrangements in his. The proposal included:[3]

  1. Using the "single seat, single constituency" method for all three tiers of geographical constituency elections to the District Boards, Municipal Councils and Legislative Council;
  2. Lowering the minimum voting age from 21 to 18;
  3. Abolishing all appointed seats on the District Boards and Municipal Councils;
  4. Removing all the restrictions on local deletes to China's National People's Congress to stand for election;
  5. Broadening the franchise of certain existing functional constituencies by replacing corporate voting with individual voting;
  6. Introducing nine new functional constituency seats to broaden the franchise to 2.7 millions new voters; and
  7. Introducing of an Election Committee comprising of District Board members return 10 members to the Legislative Council.

Although the proportion of 20 geographical constituencies, 30 functional constituencies and 10 Election Committee was of the 1995 elected Legislative Council was fixed in the Basic Law, however Patten extended the definition of functional constituencies and thus virtually every Hong Kong subject was able to vote for the so-called indirectly elected members of the Legislative Council.

The new nine functional constituencies with much larger eligible electorates would be created with 2.7 millions eligible voters as follows:

  1. Agriculture, Fisheries, Mining, Energy and Construction
  2. Textiles and Garment
  3. Manufacturing
  4. Import and Export
  5. Hotel and Catering
  6. Transport and Communication
  7. Financial, Insurance and Real Estate Services
  8. Public, Social and Personal Services

Views

PRC government

The CCP government treated the unanticipated Patten's top-down reforms as a tactic by Western countries to subvert its political system incrementally.[4] Prior to the announcement of the reform package, British foreign minister Douglas Hurd had given the details of the proposal to PRC foregin minister Qian Qichen. Beijing warned that some aspects of the plan were in violation of the Basic Law, and a legislature so elected would not be able to straddle across from 1997 to 1999. They emphasised that any arrangements for the 1995 Legislative Council election should be agreed by both sides beforehand. Beijing saw the Patten proposals as direct confrontation.[3]

Beijing made Patten the principal culprit of the trouble and the Chinese propaganda machine singled out him for attack. Director of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Lu Ping labelled Patten as "Sinner of a Thousand Years" (Chinese: 千古罪人) at a press conference.[5] In Hong Kong, Xinhua officials used many occasions to criticise Patten. Zheng Guoxiong, Xinhua Hong Kong's deputy director said that:

Patten insisted on confrontation by putting forward his reform proposals. This affected and harmed the prosperity of Hong Kong. Chris Patten did not ahve any sincerity to cooperate with China. His attitude was thoroughly confrontational, Chris Patten completely ignored the effort and attitude of the Chinese government and he brought harmful effects to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. He should be the one who bears all the responsibility.[6]

Zhou Nan, the director of the Xinhua News Agency in Hong Kong siad in meeting the chairmen of the District Board said the Patten proposal as "triple violations":

More and more Hong Kong people have realised that Patten's political reform package is in serious violation of the Joint Declaration, the Basic Law and the previous agreements reached by Chinese and Britain. They also realised that by walking along this wrong path, Patten has already jeopardised and will continue to jeopardise the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and a smooth transition. We have already taken and shall take all the necessary measures to maintain the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, to ensure a smooth transition in 1997 and to protect the long-term interests of Hong Kong people. The only way out for Patten is he should immediately abandon his so-called political reform package and stop playing political tricks.[7]

For the Chinese Communist Party, any significant expansion of the electorate base would render Hong Kong less controllable after 1997. The control had already declined after the Tiananmen Square incident in which the pro-democracy activists won a historical landslide victory in the 1991 legislative first direct elections with the greatly spread "anti-China" syndrome.[4]

Pro-democracy camp

The three pro-democratic parties in the Legislative Council, the United Democrats of Hong Kong (UDHK), Meeting Point (MP), and the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) mostly supported the Patten proposals, even though the United Democrats complained that the reform was so timid to bring real democracy to the Hong Kong people when the proposals were first announced.[8]

The pro-democratic parties had different suggestions on the details of the electoral methods. However, they also desire to ensure political stability and smooth transition of sovereignty and avoid direct confrontations with the Beijing government.

The United Democrats and Meeting Point (later merged into the Democratic Party in 1994) favoured the single-member system. The United Democrats even called for the abolition of 10 seats of the Election Committee and direct election of the 30 legislators, and expand the franchise of the functional constituencies to cover non-working women, students and retired persons.[9]

Different from the UDHK's suggestion of each vote for the Election Committee and functional constituencies, the ADPL suggested each citizen should cast one vote for either the functional constituencies or the Election Committee. To avoid a clash with the Beijing government, the party later joined the Beijing-controlled Preparatory Committee and was accused by the pro-democratic supporters.

Independent legislator Emily Lau and other some other pro-democracy activists was dissatisfied wit the relatively conservative stance of the three political parties. She demanded a more radical blueprint of having a fully directly-elected legislature installed in 1995.[10]

Meeting Point later abstained in the amendment moved by Emily Lau as it saw any infringement of the Basic Law would enrage the PRC government and result in dismantling of the installed political structure as well as instability. Meeting Point would like to see more democracy in Hong Kong but did not want to antagonise Beijing unduly.[9]

Pro-buiness faction

The pro-business party led by Allen Lee in the Legislative Coucnil formed the Liberal Party in 1993 followed the Beijing's line of opposing the Patten proposals. The party sought to resolve the Sino-Hong Kong confrontation through negotiations.

The conservative Business and Professionals Federation of Hong Kong, led by tycoon Vincent Lo issued a statement in favour of "convergence" with the Basic Law and against the proposals.[8]

British community

Although the Major had full support in the Patten's reform package, the former governor of Hong Kong Lord Murray MacLehose, former ambassador to Beijing Percy Cradock, and former Hong Kong chief secretary David Akers-Jones took a public stance against Patten proposals. They did not want to risk antagonising Beijing and lost the British business interests.[8]

Cradock stood firmly against Patten in the quarrel between Patten and the Chinese government, and criticised him in many occasions, blaming him for damaging the planned road-map which had been endorsed by both the British and Chinese governments. In 1995, Cradock publicly said in an interview that "He [referring to Patten] has made himself so obnoxious to the Chinese"[11] and later in another occasion, he described Patten as the "incredible shrinking Governor".[12][13] Yet, Patten did not remain silent and struck back in a Legislative Council meeting, publicly ridiculing him as a "dyspeptic retired ambassador".[14] From 1992 to 1997, both Cradock and Patten criticised each other in many occasions which made them in very bad terms.

Public opinions

Amid the Chinese government's threats, public support for Patten's reform declined intermittently and a polarized public emerged. Opinion surveys revealed despite the majority of the public supported the reform, public support for Chris Patten was stifled by Communists' persistent threats to demolish Hong Kong's political structure in 1997 if the reforms were implemented.[4]

Sino-British negotiations

In February 1993, Douglas Hurd wrote to Qian Qichen for proposing negotiation "without preconditions". On 22 April 1993, the two sides reached an agreement that negotiations would stat in Beijing. Jiang Enzhu, the deputy foreign minister represented the PRC side and Robin McLaren, the British ambassador to China, represented the British side. The two sides held seventeen rounds of talk on the electoral arrangements of the 1994 District Boards and 1995 Legislative Council but failed to reach agreement.[15]

The Sino-British negotiations effectively came to an end when Douglas Hurd wrote to Qian Qichen that Britain had decided to present the Patten proposals to the Hong Kong Legislative Council for scrutiny. Qian replied that it was a matter of principle to China that the opinions of the Hong Kong legislature could not supersede the discussion between the two governments and that if the British did indeed put the Patten proposals to the legislature it would mean a breakdown in bilateral negotiations.[15]

Legislative voting

Withe the tabling of the Electoral Provisions (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Bill 1993 which gives effect to the first four proposed reforms, and the Legislative Council (Electoral Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 1994 which gives effect to the last three proposed reforms) in the Legislative Council, were passed on 24 February 1994 and 30 June 1994 respectively,[15] despite Lu Ping made phone calls to lobby legislators to abstain or vote against the Patten proposals before the voting.[16]

There were fourteen amendments to Patten's bill.[17] Allen Lee's Liberal Party and its allies tried to amend the Patten proposals by proposing the restriction of the franchise in one functional constituency to a maximum of 153 senior executives. Lu Ping issued his allies on LegCo with instruction to support Allen Lee's amendment. Legislator Vincent Cheng, the board member of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, was pressured by the chairman of the bank Sir William Purves to vote for the Liberal amendment.[18] Liberal Party's amendment was defeated by 28 to 29 votes, a mere majority of one vote on 29 June 1994, with the help of the three ex-officio votes.[19]

Emily Lau's amendment of a universal suffrage for the 1995 Legislative Council Election, supported by the United Democrats and ADPL was also defeated by 20 to 21 votes, with the margin of one vote as four Meeting Point legislators abstained.

Selection
method		 Capacity or
Constituency		 Member Party Liberal
amendment[20]		 Lau
amendment[20]		 Patten bill[20]
AP President John Joseph Swaine Independent Present Present Present
EO Chief Secretary Anson Chan Nonpartisan Red XN No Red XN No Green tickY Yes
EO Attorney General Jeremy Fell Mathews Nonpartisan Red XN No Red XN No Green tickY Yes
EO Financial Secretary Nathaniel W. H. Macleod Nonpartisan Red XN No Red XN No Green tickY Yes
AP Appointed Allen Lee Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
AP Appointed Selina Chow Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
FC Social Services Hui Yin-fat Independent Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
GC Hong Kong Island East Martin Lee United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
FC Finance David Li Independent Green tickY Yes Absent Absent
FC Industrial (Second) Ngai Shiu-kit Liberal Green tickY Yes Absent Red XN No
FC Labour Pang Chun-hoi TUC Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
GC Kowloon East Szeto Wah United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
FC Labour Tam Yiu-chung FTU Green tickY Yes Absent Red XN No
GC New Territories East Andrew Wong Independent Red XN No Red XN No Green tickY Yes
FC Rural Lau Wong-fat Liberal Green tickY Yes Absent Red XN No
FC Architectural, Surveying and Planning Edward Ho Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
FC Real Estate and Construction Ronald Joseph Arculli Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
AP Appointed Martin Gilbert Barrow Independent Abstain Abstain Abstain
AP Appointed Peggy Lam Independent Green tickY Yes Absent Abstain
AP Appointed Miriam Lau Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
AP Appointed Lau Wah-sum Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
FC Medical Leong Che-hung Meeting Point Red XN No Abstain Green tickY Yes
FC Commercial (First) James David McGregor HKDF Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
FC Urban Council Elsie Tu Independent Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
FC Accountancy Peter Wong Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
GC New Territories South Albert Chan United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
AP Appointed Vincent Cheng Independent Green tickY Yes Red XN No Green tickY Yes
AP Appointed Moses Cheng Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
AP Appointed Marvin Cheung Independent Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
FC Teaching Cheung Man-kwong United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
FC Financial Services Chim Pui-chung Independent Green tickY Yes Absent Red XN No
GC New Territories North Fung Chi-wood United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
GC Kowloon West Frederick Fung ADPL Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
AP Appointed Timothy Ha Independent Red XN No Absent Green tickY Yes
FC Health Michael Ho United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
GC Hong Kong Island West Huang Chen-ya United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
FC Legal Simon Ip Independent Abstain Red XN No Green tickY Yes
AP Appointed Lam Kui-chun Liberal Green tickY Yes Absent Red XN No
GC Kowloon Central Conrad Lam United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
GC Kowloon Central Lau Chin-shek United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
GC New Territories East Emily Lau Independent Red XN No Green tickY Yes Red XN No
GC New Territories South Lee Wing-tat United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
AP Appointed Eric Li Independent Green tickY Yes Red XN No Green tickY Yes
GC Kowloon East Fred Li Meeting Point Red XN No Abstain Green tickY Yes
GC Hong Kong Island East Man Sai-cheong United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
AP Appointed Steven Poon Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
AP Appointed Henry Tang Liberal Green tickY Yes Absent Red XN No
GC New Territories North Tik Chi-yuen Meeting Point Red XN No Abstain Green tickY Yes
GC Kowloon West James To United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
FC Engineering Samuel Wong Independent Green tickY Yes Absent Green tickY Yes
FC Commercial (Second) Philip Wong NHKA Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
GC Hong Kong Island West Yeung Sum United Democrats Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
FC Tourism Howard Young Liberal Green tickY Yes Red XN No Red XN No
GC New Territories West Wong Wai-yin Meeting Point Red XN No Abstain Green tickY Yes
GC New Territories West Tang Siu-tong Independent Green tickY Yes Absent Red XN No
AP Appointed Christine Loh Independent Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
AP Appointed Roger Luk Independent Absent Red XN No Red XN No
AP Appointed Anna Wu Independent Red XN No Green tickY Yes Green tickY Yes
FC Industrial (First) James Tien Liberal Green tickY Yes Absent Red XN No
FC Regional Council Alfred Tso LDF Green tickY Yes Absent Red XN No

Aftermath

The Pro-democracy camp experienced the largest victories in the following elections under Patten's reform. District Board elections were held on 18 September 1994 under Patten's reform rules. The newly established Democratic Party won the largest block with 75 seats in 18 District Boards. The Democratic Party won 23 of the 59 seats in the municipal elections on 9 March 1995, combining with other democratic parties and controlled both the Urban Council and Regional Council. On 17 September 1995, the pro-democracy camp won another landslide victory in the fully elected Legislative Council election.

After the Patten proposals were passed, Beijing decided to create the Preliminary Working Committee (PWC) on 16 July 1993. Although it was seen that some such body was necessary in order to prepare for the transition of the sovereignty, the row over the Patten proposals enabled Beijing to issue a warning that unilateral action would result in the setting-up of a "second stove" and when it was formed, to say it was an unfortunate product of British confrontation.[21]

The Preliminary Working Committee was ended in December 1995 and succeeded by the Preparatory Committee in 1996. The Preparatory Committee was responsible for implementation work related to the establishment of the HKSAR, including the establishment of the Selection Committee, which in turn was responsible for the selection of the first chief executive and the members of the Provisional Legislative Council which replaced the Legislative Council elected in 1995.[22] The Provisional Legislative Council reverted most of the Patten's reform, by resuming the appointed seats to the District Councils, Urban Council and Regional Council, reintroducing the corporate voting in some functional constituencies, narrow the franchise of the nine new functional constituencies to about 20,000 voters, and changed to "single seat, single constituency" method into proportional representation system for the Legislative Council elections.[23]

Despite the revesal of the electoral system, the Patten's reform significantly rewrote the Hong Kong political landscape by polarising and politicalising the Hong Kong politics.

Timeline

The events of the electoral reform went on as follows:[24][25]

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Sing 2004, p. 123.
  2. ^ Loh 2010, p. 180.
  3. ^ a b Loh 2010, p. 181.
  4. ^ a b c Sing 2004, p. 124.
  5. ^ "彭定康：寬宏對待中國罵名". BBC News. 4 April 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  6. ^ Loh 2010, p. 181-182.
  7. ^ Loh 2010, p. 182.
  8. ^ a b c Kwok, R. Yin-Wang; So, Alvin Y. Hong Kong University Press. p. 262. ((cite book)): Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "1995" ignored (help); Text "The Hong Kong-Guangdong Link: Partnership in Flux" ignored (help)
  9. ^ a b Sing 2004, p. 145.
  10. ^ Chiu, Stephen Wing-Kai; Lü, Dale; Lui, Tai-Lok (2000). The Dynamics of Social Movement in Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. p. 43.
  11. ^ "Sir Percy Cradock dies", RTHK English News, 29 January 2010.
  12. ^ "Sir Percy Cradock", Telegraph, 28 January 2010.
  13. ^ 〈英前駐華大使柯利達病逝〉，《蘋果日報》，2010年1月30日。
  14. ^ OFFICIAL RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS, Hong Kong Legislative Council, 13 July 1995.
  15. ^ a b c Loh 2010, p. 183.
  16. ^ Dimbleby 1997, p. 258-260.
  17. ^ Dimbleby 1997, p. 254.
  18. ^ Dimbleby 1997, p. 258-259.
  19. ^ Chung, Sze Yuen (2001). Hong Kong's Journey to Reunification: Memoirs of Sze-yuen Chung. Chinese University Press. p. 210.
  20. ^ a b c "Hansard" (PDF). Legislative Council of Hong Kong. 29 June 1994. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  21. ^ Loh 2010, p. 187.
  22. ^ Loh 2010, p. 188.
  23. ^ Sing 2004, p. 158.
  24. ^ Liu, Eva; Yue, S.Y. (1996). Political Development in Hong Kong since the 1980s (PDF). Research and Library Services Division Legislative Council Secretariat. ((cite book)): line feed character in |publisher= at position 39 (help)
  25. ^ Chan, Ming K.; Lo, Shiu-hing (2010). The A to Z of the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 11–14.

Bibliography

  • Dimbleby, Jonathan (1997). The last governor: Chris Patten & the handover of Hong Kong. London: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN ISBN0316640182. ((cite book)): Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Loh, Christine (2010). Underground front. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN ISBN9789622099968. ((cite book)): Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Sing, Ming (2004). Hong Kong's Tortuous Democratization: A Comparative Analysis. Routledge. ISBN ISBN0203180402. ((cite book)): Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)

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