Central and Western District Council

The Central and Western District Council (Chinese: 中西區區議會) 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 15 constituencies, electing a total of 15 members. The last election was held on 24 November 2019.

Central and Western District Council

中西區區議會
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
Vice-Chair
Structure
Seats15 councillors
consisting of
15 elected members
6 / 15
1 / 15
1 / 15
7 / 15
Elections
First past the post
Last election
24 November 2019
Meeting place
11/F, Harbour Building, 38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong
Website
www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/central/

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




Political makeup

Elections are held every four years.

    Political party Council members Current
members
1994 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
  Independent 2 5 4 3 5 4 7
7 / 15
  Democratic 8 5 6 6 4 4 7
6 / 15
  Liberal 1 1 2 1 1 1 1
1 / 15
  Civic - - 1 0 - - 1
1 / 15

District result maps
  • 1994
  • 1999
  • 2003
  • 2007
  • 2011
  • 2015
  • 2019

Members represented

Starting from 1 January 2020:

Code Constituency Name Political affiliation Notes
A01 Chung Wan Hui Chi-fung Independent
A02 Mid Levels East Ng Siu-hong Democratic
A03 Castle Road Cheng Lai-king Democratic
A04 Peak Jeremy Young Chit-on Liberal
A05 University Yam Ka-yi Independent
A06 Kwun Lung Fergus Leung Fong-wai Independent
A07 Kennedy Town & Mount Davis Cherry Wong Kin-ching Civic
A08 Sai Wan Pang Ka-ho Independent
A09 Belcher Victor Yeung Sui-yin Democratic
A10 Shek Tong Tsui Sam Yip Kam-lung Independent
A11 Sai Ying Pun Wong Weng-chi Independent
A12 Sheung Wan Kam Nai-wai Democratic
A13 Tung Wah Bonnie Ng Hoi-yan Democratic
A14 Centre Street Cheung Kai-yin Democratic
A15 Water Street Ho Chi-wang Independent

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–presentDemocratic

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

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. "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 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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