1983 Hong Kong municipal election

The 1983 Urban Council election was held on 8 March 1983 for the elected seats of the Urban Council. It marked the centenary of the establishment of the Urban Council and the largely reformed electoral methods with the creation of the district-based constituencies and massive expansion of the electorate.

1983 Hong Kong municipal election

8 March 1983
15 (of the 30) seats to the Urban Council
Registered	708,119
Turnout	127,206 (22.37%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Hilton Cheong-Leen Brook Bernacchi Frederick Fung Party Civic Reform PCPHP Leader's seat Wan Chai Shau Kei Wan Sham Shui Po East Last election 4 seats, 45.35% 2 seats, 28.29% New party Seats won 4 2 2 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 23,576 19,520 13,894 Percentage 18.58% 15.38% 10.98% Swing 26.77pp 12.91pp N/A
Chairman before election Hilton Cheong-Leen Civic Elected Chairman Hilton Cheong-Leen Civic

Overview

1983 marked the centenary of the Urban Council. Elections for the certain numbers of seats in the Urban Council had been held since 1888, but the electorates were strictly limited to the residents on the jurors list or with certain professions. All elected members were voted without in a single constituency.

Since the colonial government began the reform on the district administrations on the eve of the Sino-British negotiation over the Hong Kong sovereignty after 1997, the 1983 election marked a major change of the Urban Council. The elected members increased from 12 to 15 whilst the appointed members increased from 12 to 15 as well, which increased the total members from 24 to 30. 15 elected members were elected by electorates of each constituency in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon with single member plurality method. The electorate base was fully extended to all Hong Kong permanent residents over 21 to about 568,000 voters, which made the electorate increased by 17 times.[1]

Despite the two long existing political groups in the Urban Council, the Hong Kong Civic Association and the Reform Club of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong People's Council on Public Housing Policy (PCPHP), a pressure group which devoted itself to the public housing policies also fill in two candidates, vice-chairman Lam Chak-piu in Kwun Tong East and secretary-general Frederick Fung in Sham Shui Po East, which made it the first pressure group to have representative in the election.[2]

Total of 127,303, 22.4% of the eligible voters turned out on the election day on 8 March, where Sham Shui Po recorded the highest turnout of 26.7% and Wong Tai Sin had the second highest of 26%. Eastern District which included the North Point and Shau Kei Wan constituencies recorded the lowest turnout of 20.4%.[1]

Outcome of election

Political affiliation		Standing	Elected	Popular votes	%
	Hong Kong Civic Association	7	4	23,576	18.58
	Reform Club of Hong Kong	3	3	19,520	15.38
	Hong Kong People's Council on Public Housing Policy	2	2	13,894	10.98
	Individuals and others	29	6	69,900	55.09
Total (turnout: 22.4%)		41	15	126,498	100.00

Elected members

District	Constituency	Candidates	Affiliation
Central & Western	Central & Western	Maria Tam Wai-chu		Independent
Wan Chai	Wan Chai	Hilton Cheong-Leen		Civic
Eastern	North Point	Kwan Lim-ho		Reform
	Shau Kei Wan	Brook Bernacchi		Reform
Southern	Southern	Joseph Chan Yuek-sut		Civic
Kowloon City	Kowloon City West	Peter Chan Chi-kwan		Civic
	Kowloon City East	Pao Ping-wing		Independent
Kwun Tong	Kwun Tong West	Elsie Elliott		Independent
	Kwun Tong East	Lam Chak-piu		PCPHP
Mong Kok	Mong Kok	Chow Wai-hung		Civic
Yau Tsim	Yau Ma Tei	Denny Huang Mong-hwa		Independent
Sham Shui Po	Sham Shui Po East	Frederick Fung Kin-kee		PCPHP
	Sham Shui Po West	Lee Chik-yuet		Independent
Wong Tai Sin	Wong Tai Sin South	Augustine Chung Shai-kit		Independent
	Wong Tai Sin North	Cecilia Yeung Lai-yin		Reform

References

1. "市局選舉今晨揭曉 投票率百份廿二 點票工作今晨三時尚未完畢". The Kung Sheung Daily News. 9 March 1983. p. 1.
2. "首個壓力團體參選 公屋評議會兩代表 競選今屆市局議席". The Kung Sheung Daily News. 7 January 1983. p. 7.