Thursday September 16, 12:05 PM
Election upset weakens bedrock party of Hong Kong democracy movement
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040916/afp/040916040524asiapacificnews.html
HONG KONG, (AFP) – The Democratic Party, the bedrock of Hong Kong’s democracy movement founded by veteran campaigner Martin Lee, is in disarray after an election setback.
Calls are growing for the resignation of party chairman Yeung Sum after it won only nine of the Legislative Council’s 60 seats in Sunday’s vote, leaving it with two fewer seats than in the previous election.
There are suggestions that it reform, merging with allied parties, after failing to capitalise on growing public anger over China’s perceived interference in the territory and quashing of hopes for democratic reforms.
“They are definitely in trouble,” said political scientist Anthony Cheung of Hong Kong City University. “It has got to really shape up or else its support base will further be trimmed by the new moderate and radical democrats.”
Although the entire camp of democratic candidates, who share aspirations for direct elections to all posts in the semi-autonomous Chinese enclave, boosted its legislative strength to 25 seats from 22, the Democratic Party’s status slipped.
Overnight it went from being the largest single party in the chamber to the third largest, overtaken by its two chief pro-Beijing rivals, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong and the Liberal Party.
The upset was blamed on a poor strategy that failed to work the convoluted electoral system in the party’s favour.
Although pro-democracy candidates won some 60 percent of the popular vote, they only received about 40 percent of the legislative seats.
Rival candidates who go along with Beijing’s opposition to a swift transition to full elections, benefited from presenting a united, coherent front, analysts said.
“They were more professional,” said political commentator Allen Lee, a democrat and critic of the Beijing-backed government.
The worst result for the party was the ousting of pro-democratic ally and popular lawmaker with the radical Frontier party Cyd Ho, who was beaten by just 815 votes as a result of a Democratic Party blunder late in its campaign.
Ho was expected to cruise to victory with Martin Lee on a separate pro-democracy list in the multi-seat Hong Kong Island constituency.
But the party panicked after opinion polls suggested its founder was lagging in the surveys and called for more votes for its own list.
The research turned out to be flawed: Lee’s support was solid and the late surge drew vital support from Ho.
Afterwards Martin Lee, who is noted for his strong advocacy of greater democracy but is loathed by China, told the media he would “rather have lost with dignity than win like this”.
The depth of pro-democratic anger over the bungle became apparent in a post-election thank-you tour when he and party chairman Yeung were jeered and chided over Ho’s defeat.
“The party’s lack of unity worked to the detriment of the entire pro-democracy camp,” said political commentator Lau Yui-siu. “The pro-government camp were very coordinated and cooperative, but the democrats were so diverse there was little coherence among them.”
The Democratic Party will have to consult its grassroots supporters, said Lau.
“It had no idea what its electorate wanted — it didn’t even conduct its own polls,” said Lau.
“I think it suffered from being too antagonistic with Beijing. People don’t want trouble, they want talks. That’s what the party must consider as it thinks over its future.”
As for party chairman Yeung’s position, the analysts agreed he was not in immediate danger despite some calls for his ouster.
“He can’t be blamed personally for the democrats’ poor showing,” said Cheung. “But he will need to pull the party back together again if it wants to regain its composure.”
Interesting Historical link for the 1998 elections.
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9805/25/hk.elex.update/
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 