Tai Po District Council

Tai Po District Council (Chinese: 大埔區議會) is the district council for the Tai Po District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 district councils. Tai Po District currently consists of 21 members, of which the district is divided into 19 constituencies, electing a total of 19 with 2 ex officio members who are the Tai Po and Sai Kung North rural committee chairmen. The latest election was held on 24 November 2019.

Tai Po District Council

大埔區議會
Type
Type
Hong Kong District Council
of the Tai Po District
History
Founded1 April 1981 (1981-04-01) (District Board)
1 July 1997 (1997-07-01) (Provisional)
1 January 2000 (2000-01-01) (District Council)
Leadership
Chair
Kwan Wing-yip, Neo Democrats
Vice-Chair
Lau Yung-wai, Independent
Structure
Seats21 councillors
consisting of
19 elected and
2 ex officio members
4 / 21
4 / 21
3 / 21
1 / 21
Independent
9 / 21
Elections
First past the post
Last election
24 November 2019
Meeting place
4/F, Tai Po Complex, 8 Heung Sze Wui Street, Tai Po, New Territories
Website
www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/tp/

History
Emblem of Tai Po District Board (1982–1997)

The Tai Po District Council was established on 1 April 1981 under the name of the Tai Po 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 Regional Council members and chairmen of two Rural Committees, Tai Po and Sai Kung North, as well as members appointed by the Governor until 1994 when last Governor Chris Patten refrained from appointing any member.

The Tai Po District Board became Tai Po 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 current Tai Po District Council was established on 1 January 2000 after the first District Council election in 1999. The appointed seats were abolished in 2015 after the modified constitutional reform proposal was passed by the Legislative Council in 2010.

The Tai Po District Board was a stronghold of the conservative Liberal Democratic Federation of Hong Kong (LDF) and its successor Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA) in the 1990s and early 2000s. The pro-business Liberal Party also established its presence in the district in the 1990s surrounding its chairman Allen Lee who was elected through the district in the 1995.

The pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the pro-democracy Democratic Party became the two dominant forces in the district after the handover. For the DAB, its vice-chairman Cheung Hok-ming who is also the chairman of the Tai Po Rural Committee has been the chairman of the council from 1994 to 2003 and again from 2008. For the Democratic Party, it was the base of the reformist "Young Turks" faction in the party represented by Legislative Councillor Andrew Cheng, until they broke away from the Democrats over the disagreement on the constitutional reform proposal in 2010 and formed the Neo Democrats.

In the 2019 election, the pro-democrats formed a coalition called Tai Po Democratic Alliance (TPDA) running in 17 constituencies against the pro-Beijing candidates. The pro-democrats achieved a historic landslide victory by sweeping all the elected seats in the council amid the massive pro-democracy protests. The pro-Beijing camp was completely wiped out except for the two ex-officio members who were also the Rural Committee chairmen.

Political control

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

Camp in controlLargest partyYearsComposition
No Overall ControlNone1982 - 1985
Pro-governmentReform Club1985 - 1988




Pro-governmentMeeting Point1988 - 1991




Pro-governmentLDF1991 - 1994




Pro-BeijingLiberal1994 - 1997




Pro-BeijingLiberal1997 - 1999




Pro-BeijingDemocratic2000 - 2003




Pro-BeijingDemocratic2004 - 2007




Pro-BeijingDAB2008 - 2011




Pro-BeijingDAB2012 - 2015




Pro-BeijingDAB2016 - 2019




Pro-democracyNeo Democrats2020 - 2023




Political makeup

Elections are held every four years.

    Political party Council members Current
members
1994 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
  Independent 3 8 5 8 8 8 6
9 / 21
  Neo Dem - - - - 2 3 4
4 / 21
  CA - - - - - - 4
4 / 21
  TPDA - - - - - - 4
3 / 21
  Civic Passion - - - - - - 1
1 / 21

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

Members represented

Starting from 1 January 2020:

Code Constituency Name Political affiliation Notes
P01 Tai Po Hui Lam Ming-yat TPDA
P02 Chung Ting Man Nim-chi Community Alliance/TPDA
P03 Tai Po Central Au Chun-wah Community Alliance/TPDA
P04 Tai Yuen Au Chun-ho Community Alliance/TPDA
P05 Fu Heng Ho Wai-lam Independent
P06 Yee Fu Yam Kai-bong Neo Democrats [lower-alpha 1]
P07 Fu Ming Sun Kwan Wing-yip Neo Democrats [lower-alpha 1]
P08 Kwong Fuk & Plover Cove Dalu Lin Kok-cheung Independent [lower-alpha 1]
P09 Wang Fuk Yiu Kwan-ho Community Alliance/TPDA
P10 Tai Po Kau Patrick Mo Ka-chun TPDA
P11 Wan Tau Tong Wong Siu-kin Civic Passion
P12 San Fu Wu Yiu-cheong Neo Democrats [lower-alpha 1]
P13 Lam Tsuen Valley Richard Chan Chun-chit TPDA
P14 Po Nga Chow Yuen-wai Neo Democrats [lower-alpha 1]
P15 Tai Wo Olive Chan Wai-ka Independent [lower-alpha 1]
P16 Old Market & Serenity Lau Yung-wai Independent [lower-alpha 1]
P17 Hong Lok Yuen Zero Yiu Yeuk-sang Independent [lower-alpha 1]
P18 Shuen Wan So Tat-leung Independent [lower-alpha 1]
P19 Sai Kung North Tam Yi-pui Independent [lower-alpha 1]
Ex Officio Tai Po Rural Committee Chairman Lam Yick-kuen Independent
Sai Kung North Rural Committee Chairman Li Yiu-ban Independent

Leadership

Chairs

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

ChairmanYearsPolitical Affiliation
Nicky Lo Kar-chun1981–1983District Officer
Thomas Chan Chun-yuen1983–1985District Officer
Ho Yung-sang1985–1994Heung Yee Kuk
Cheung Hok-ming1994–2003DAB/Heung Yee Kuk
Cheng Chun-ping2004–2007DAB
Cheung Hok-ming2008–2019DAB/Heung Yee Kuk
Wong Pik-kiu2019–2019DAB
Kwan Wing-yip2020–presentNeo Democrats

Vice Chairs
Vice ChairmanYearsPolitical Affiliation
Cheng Chun-ping2000–2003DAB
Wan Kwok-lim2004–2007Independent
Man Chen-fai2008–2011Heung Yee Kuk
Wong Pik-kiu2012–2019DAB
Cheng Chun-ping2019DAB
Lau Yung-wai2020–presentIndependent

Notes
  1. Tai Po Democratic Alliance member.

References

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