Central and Western District Council

中西區區議會
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
History
Founded18 March 1982 (1982-03-18) (District Board)
1 July 1997 (1997-07-01) (Provisional)
1 January 2000 (2000-01-01) (District Council)
Leadership
Chair
David Leung Chi-kei, Independent
Vice-Chair
Vacant
Structure
Seats20 councillors
consisting of
4 elected members
8 district committee members
8 appointed members
6 / 20
2 / 20
1 / 20
11 / 20
Elections
First past the post
Last election
10 December 2023
Meeting place
11/F, Harbour Building, 38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong
Website
www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/central/
Central and Western District Council
Traditional Chinese中西區區議會

The Central and Western District Council is the district council for the Central and Western District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Central and Western District Council currently consists of 15 members, of which the district is divided into two constituencies, electing a total of 4 members, 8 district committee members, and 8 appointed members. The last election was held on 10 December 2023.

History

The Central and Western District Council was established on 18 March 1982 under the name of the Central and Western District Board as the result of the colonial Governor Murray MacLehose's District Administration Scheme reform. The District Board was partly elected with the ex-officio Urban Council members, as well as members appointed by the Governor until 1994 when last Governor Chris Patten refrained from appointing any member.

The Central and Western District Board became Central and Western Provisional District Board after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was established in 1997 with the appointment system being reintroduced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. The Central and Western District Council was established on 1 January 2000 after the first District Council election in 1999. The council has become fully elected when the appointed seats were abolished in 2011 after the modified constitutional reform proposal was passed by the Legislative Council in 2010.

The Central and Western Board was largely non-partisan in the 1980s. In the 1985 election, an electoral coalition of 12 incumbents based on personal network surrounding Vincent Ko Hon-chiu of the Hong Kong People's Association, later the board chairman, contested in the election, winning 10 seats in total.[1] The board gradually divided into liberal and conservative blocs in the late 1980s and split into pro-democracy United Democrats of Hong Kong (UDHK) and the conservative Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong (LDF) which were formed in 1990.

The Democratic Party, the merger of UDHK and Meeting Point, took control of the board from 1994 to 1997 after the abolishment of the appointed seats. The Democratic majority was offset by the pro-Beijing camp when appointed seats were reintroduced in 1997. In the 2003 tide of democracy after the July 1 protest, the pro-democrats formed the Central and Western Democratic Power for the 2003 election and won seven seats, which saw pro-democrat Legislative Councillor Cyd Ho defeating Ip Kwok-him of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) in his long-held constituency of Kwun Lung. Democratic Party's Kam Nai-wai was able to take the chairmanship with the help of appointed member Wu Chor-nam.[2] Kam's decision to co-operate with an appointed member sparked controversy which caused Kam to resign soon afterward.[3]

The Democratic Party remained the largest party in the council until the 2007 election when the DAB surpassed the Democratic Party in the number of seats for the first time. In the by-elections in 2017 for Peak and Tung Wah, the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps took each of the seats, giving the Democrats the same numbers of seat as the DAB, both commanding five seats.

In the 2019 election amid the ongoing pro-democracy protests, the pro-democrats scored a historic landslide victory by taking 14 of the 15 seats, with DAB being completely wiped out from the council and its legislator Cheung Kwok-kwan being ousted in Sai Wan. The Democratic Party became the largest party with seven seats with Cheng Lai-king and Victor Yeung taking the chair and vice chair posts respectively.

Political control

Since 1982 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:

Camp in controlLargest partyYearsComposition
No Overall ControlCivic Association1982 - 1985
No Overall ControlPeople's Association1985 - 1988



No Overall ControlHKAS → United Democrats1988 - 1991



Pro-governmentUnited Democrats1991 - 1994



Pro-democracyDemocratic (majority)1994 - 1997




Pro-BeijingDemocratic1997 - 1999




Pro-BeijingDemocratic2000 - 2003




Pro-BeijingDemocratic2004 - 2007




Pro-BeijingDemocratic2008 - 2011




Pro-BeijingDAB2012 - 2015




Pro-BeijingDAB → DAB/Democratic2016 - 2019




Pro-democracyDemocratic2020 - 2023




Pro-Beijing Independent 2024 - 2027





Political makeup

Elections are held every four years.

    Political party Council members Current
members
1994 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
  Democratic 8 5 6 6 4 4 7
1 / 15
  Independent 2 5 4 3 5 4 7
1 / 15
  Liberal 1 1 2 1 1 1 1
1 / 15

District result maps

Members represented

Starting from 1 January 2024:

Code Constituency Name Political affiliation Notes
A01 Central Noel Shih Jan DAB
Fung Kar-leung Liberal
A02 Western Timothy Lau Tin-ching DAB
Mandy Wong Sin-man Independent
District Committee Sidney Lee Chi-hang Independent
Yeung Hok-ming DAB
Iris Cheung Ka-yan DAB
Zhang Zong Independent
Law Kam-fai Independent
Chiu Wah-kuen Independent
Wu Man-hin Independent
Yeung Hoi-wing DAB
Appointed Members Ng Yin Independent
Ben Lui Hung-pan FTU
Qiu Songqing Independent
Jin Ling Independent
Eugene Chan Kin-keung Independent
Jeremy Young Chit-on Liberal
Yip Wing-shing Independent
Ip Yik-nam DAB

Leadership

Chairs

Since 1985, the chairman is elected by all the members of the board:

ChairmanYearsPolitical Affiliation
A. G. Cooper1982–1983District Officer
Lolly Chiu Yuen-chu1983–1984District Officer
Lam Kam-kwong1984–1985District Officer
Vincent Ko Hon-chiu[4]1985–1988People's Association
Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen[5]1988–1994Nonpartisan→PA
Yuen Bun-keung[6]1994–1997Democratic
Stephen Chan Chit-kwai[7]1997–2000Independent
Wu Chor-nam[8]2000–2003Independent
Chan Tak-chor[9][lower-alpha 1]2004–2011Liberal→Independent
Yip Wing-shing[10]2012–2019Independent
Cheng Lai-king2020–2021Democratic
David Leung Chi-kei2024–presentDistrict Officer

Vice Chairs

Vice ChairmanYearsPolitical Affiliation
Chan Tak-chor2000–2003Liberal
Wu Chor-nam2004–2007Independent
Stephen Chan Chit-kwai2008–2011Independent
Chan Hok-fung2012–2019DAB
Victor Yeung Sui-yin2020–presentDemocratic→Independent

Notes

  1. ↑ Democratic Party's Kam Nai-wai was initially elected as chairman but soon resigned from the office.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "百姓 - Issues 159-170". 百姓半月刊編輯委員會. 1988. p. 3.
  2. ↑ "破例與委任議員結盟 民主黨奪中西區區會主席". 蘋果日報. 7 January 2004.
  3. 1 2 "中西區區議員甘乃威辭去區議會主席以釋疑慮". Democratic Party. 9 January 2004. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  4. ↑ Growing with Hong Kong: The University and Its Graduates-The First 90 Years. Hong Kong University Press. p. 276.
  5. ↑ "Legislative Council Report 2002-03" (PDF). Legislative Council of Hong Kong. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ↑ "Biography of Yuen Bun-keung". Democratic Party. 1999. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  7. ↑ "Daily Information Bulletin". Government Information Services. 4 July 1997. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  8. ↑ "HKSAR Central & Western District Council". webb-site.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  9. ↑ "Member Details of Central and Western District Council". Central and Western District Council. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "Central & Western District Council Members (2008 - 2011)". Central and Western District Council. Archived from the original on 1 June 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.

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