New People's Party (Hong Kong)

The New People's Party (NPP; Chinese: 新民黨) is a pro-Beijing conservative political party in Hong Kong. It was established by Regina Ip on 9 January 2011 who is currently the chairperson. Since Ip has strongly indicated her interest in becoming Chief Executive of Hong Kong, it has been suggested that the party is primarily a vehicle for that goal.[1] The NPP absorbed a regional political group Civil Force and expanded its district network in 2014. After the 2016 Legislative Council election held two seats in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Amid the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, the party lost all of its District Council seats in the November District Council elections.

New People's Party

新民黨
ChairpersonRegina Ip
Executive Vice ChairmanLai Tung-kwok
Deputy ChairpersonsPun Kwok-shan
Eunice Yung
Johnny Hon
Founded9 January 2011 (2011-01-09)
HeadquartersFlats D-F, 11/F China
Overseas Building,
139 Hennessy
Road, Wan Chai,
Hong Kong
Youth wingNew People's Party
Youth Committee
Membership (2019) 850
IdeologyConservatism (HK)
Political positionCentre-right
Regional affiliationPro-Beijing camp
Colours         Blue and red
Slogan"The Party that Makes a Difference"
Executive Council
1 / 33
Legislative Council
2 / 70
District Councils
0 / 479
NPC (HK deputies)
0 / 36
CPPCC (HK members)
1 / 124
Website
www.npp.org.hk
New People's Party
Traditional Chinese新民黨
Simplified Chinese新民党
Politics and government
of Hong Kong
Related topics
 Hong Kong portal

Party beliefs

The party positions itself with the pro-Beijing camp. Ip has said that it targets the "middle-class", rather than the "grass-roots".[1] Its electorate base also largely comes from the civil service, especially retired officials from the disciplined services, due to Ip's background. The party's stated platform includes universal suffrage, economic diversification[2] and the reduction in the wealth gap.[3]

History

Early years

The leading figure of the New People's Party is Regina Ip, who was the then Secretary for Security and the incumbent member of the Legislative Council, as well as the chair of the think tank Savantas Policy Institute. She founded the New People's Party on 9 January 2011. Michael Tien, former vice chairman of the Liberal Party and younger brother of former Liberal Party chair James Tien, is the deputy chairman. Another deputy chairman was Louis Shih.[2]

The party intended to field ten candidates in the district council elections in November 2011.[1] Candidates would include three former senior security service officers in Tony Liu Kit-ming, the soon-to-retire chairman of the Hong Kong Police Inspectors Association; Wat Ki-on, the retired former chairman of the Fire Services Department Ambulancemen's Union; and Tsui Chi-keung, the retired former chairman of the Fire Services Department Staff's General Association.[4] It won four seats in total as a result.

Ip announced her interest in running for the Chief Executive in the 2012 election, but failed to secure enough nominations to enter the race. She then endorsed Leung Chun-ying, winner of the election. In September, both chair Regina Ip and deputy chair Michael Tien were elected to the Legislative Council in the LegCo elections. Regina Ip was subsequently appointed by Leung Chun-ying to the Executive Council in October 2012.

Alliance with Civil Force

The party expanded the network in the New Territories East by forming a political alliance with the Civil Force in February 2014. Civil Force leader Pun Kwok-shan was appointed Vice-Chairman of the New People's Party.[5] With 17 Civil Force District Councillors and 2 independents joined the New People's Party, the party's seat in the District Councils jumped from 12 to 31.[6]

In the 2015 District Council election, the NPP and Civil Force won 25 seats, while its seats in Tai Hang and Tai Koo Shing East in Hong Kong Island where Ip's base was taken by pro-democrats. Civil Force's base in Sha Tin was also lost to the pro-democrats with five veterans defeated by new faces.

The NPP scored a victory in the 2016 Legislative Council election by taking three seats in the geographical constituencies and doubled their vote share from 3.76 to 7.73 per cent. Incumbents Regina Ip and Michael Tien both received large vote share in Hong Kong Island and the New Territories West respectively with new face Eunice Yung first elected in the New Territories East despite the allegation of her being backed by the Liaison Office.

2017 Chief Executive election and Michael Tien departure

In December 2016, the party endorsed Ip's second bid in the 2017 Chief Executive election.[7] Due to the lobbying by the Liaison Office for former Chief Secretary Carrie Lam and pro-democrats' aim to send former Financial Secretary John Tsang and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing into the race, Ip was squeezed out from canvassing a minimum number of 150 nominations in the 1,194-member Election Committee to enter the race for the second time.[8] After the election, Ip said that the party may reposition itself to become less pro-establishment.[9]

Michael Tien, the party deputy chairman, complained the election had "lost its shape" due to the increasing interference of "an invisible hand", referring to the Liaison Office. Tien indicated his support for John Tsang, although Ip endorsed Carrie Lam on the last day before the election.[10][11] Tien eventually quit the party on 10 April with six District Councillors, citing the party's overly close tie with Beijing was one of the reasons of his departure. The numbers of Legislative Council seats dropped to two and District Councils to 19 as a result.[12]

The party nominated Southern District Councillor Judy Chan to represent in the 2018 Legislative Council Hong Kong Island by-election running against independent democrat Au Nok-hin for the seat left vacant by the oath-taking controversy which resulted in the disqualification of six legislators. The party combined forces with the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) to form a united front against the pro-democrats. As a result, Chan was narrowly defeated in the election by only three per cent of margin by receiving more than 127,000 votes.[13]

A staunch supporter of the government amid the massive protests against the extradition bill, the party saw a massive departure of its members, many of which were District Councillors.[14] The number of District Councillors dropped from 25 in the 2015 elections to 13 only. In the 2019 District Council election, the party suffered a devastating defeat by losing all its 13 seats in the District Councils and failing to get any candidate elected in the landslide victory of the pro-democracy camp.

Performance in elections

Chief Executive elections
Election Candidate No. of votes % of votes
2012 Regina Ip Not nominated
2017 Regina Ip Not nominated

Legislative Council elections
Election Number of
popular votes		 % of
popular votes		 GC
seats		 FC
seats		 Total seats +/− Position
2012 68,097 3.76 2 0
2 / 70
 1 9th
2016 167,589 7.73 3 0
3 / 70
 1 7th

District Council elections
Election Number of
popular votes		 % of
popular votes		 Total
elected seats		 +/−
2011 15,568 1.32
4 / 412
 3
2015 75,793 5.24
26 / 431
 1
2019 79,975 2.73
0 / 452
 13

Representatives

Executive Council

Legislative Council
ConstituencyMember
Hong Kong IslandRegina Ip
New Territories EastYung Hoi-yan

District Councils

The party holds no District council seats after 2019 District Council election heavily defeated.

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See also

References
  1. Regina Ip hints at run for top job, South China Morning Post, 31 Jan 2011
  2. Yan, Cathy (8 January 2011). "Hong Kong's Ip Launches Political Party". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 17 January 2011. Joining Ms Ip as deputy chairmen are former Liberal Party member Michael Tien and Louis Shih, former chairman of the pro-democracy organization SynergyNet.
  3. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=106856&sid=30858941&con_type=1&d_str=20110110&fc=10 The Standard accessed 17 January 2011
  4. High-profile officers join Ip's party, South China Morning Post, Phyllis Tsang, 8 Feb 2011
  5. 新民黨宣布與公民力量結成聯盟. Radio Television Hong Kong (in Chinese). 12 February 2014.
  6. 新民黨與公民力量結盟葉劉淑儀否認吞併. Metro Radio (in Chinese). 12 February 2014.
  7. "Regina Ip declares her entry into leadership race with pledge to enact controversial Article 23". South China Morning Post. 15 December 2016.
  8. "Regina Ip drops out of Hong Kong chief executive race". South China Morning Post. 1 March 2017.
  9. "新民黨選戰後重新定位　葉劉指或「冇咁建制」". Ming Pao. 3 March 2017.
  10. "Carrie Lam aims to 'reignite' Hong Kong as she officially announces candidacy for top job". South China Morning Post. 16 January 2017.
  11. "'Don't ask us to quit': Chief executive hopeful Regina Ip stands firm on candidacy in overcrowded field". South China Morning Post. 17 January 2017.
  12. "【新民黨分裂】直播田北辰宣佈退黨：因了解而分開". Apple Daily. 14 November 2016.
  13. "Hong Kong democrats to rely on legal appeals after failing to win back Legco veto foothold". South China Morning Post. 12 March 2018.
  14. "【李八方online】新民黨現跳船潮 元朗區議員退黨兼棄選". 蘋果日報. 12 August 2019.
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