Kwun Tong District Council

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Kwun Tong District Council

觀塘區議會
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
History
Founded2 April 1981 (1981-04-02) (District Board)
1 July 1997 (1997-07-01) (Provisional)
1 January 2000 (2000-01-01) (District Council)
Leadership
Chair
Denny Ho Lap-ki, Independent
Vice-Chair
Vacant
Structure
Seats40 councillors
consisting of
8 elected members
16 district committee members
16 appointed members
11 / 40
5 / 40
5 / 40
1 / 40
23 / 40
Elections
First past the post
Last election
10 December 2023
Meeting place
Unit 05-07, 20/F Millennium City 6, Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon
Website
www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/kt/

The Kwun Tong District Council (Chinese: 觀塘區議會) is the district council for the Kwun Tong District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Kwun Tong District Council consists of 40 members since January 2020, of which the district is divided into 4 constituencies, electing a total of 8 members, 16 district committee members, and 16 appointed members. The council was created in April 1981 under the District Board Ordinance 1981. The last election was held on 24 November 2023.

History

The Kwun Tong District Council was established on 2 April 1981 under the name of the Kwun Tong 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 Kwun Tong District Board became Kwun Tong 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 Kwun Tong District Council was established on 1 January 2000 after the first post-handover 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 Kwun Tong District Council is one of the largest District Councils in Hong Kong. Due to its large population, the political parties' influence was countered by the conservative independent community leaders. Because of the large presence of lower-income groups and industrial character, the Kwun Tong District Council has also been a stronghold for the pro-Beijing grassroots political groups, including the Kwun Tong Residents Association headed by Hau Shui-pui, council chairman from 1997 to 2003, and Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and its Legislative Councillor Chan Kam-lam. It also the voter base of pro-democracy politicians Szeto Wah of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (PTU), and Fred Li of the Meeting Point who was first elected to the District Board in the 1985 election and got directly elected to the Legislative Council with Szeto through the district in 1991.

The pro-democracy camp first achieved more than half of the elected seats and took control of the board in the 1994 election. The pro-democracy majority was offset by the appointed members after 1997. In the tide of democracy caused by the 2003 July 1 march, the pro-democrats again achieved majority of the elected seats but was countered by the appointed seats.[1] The pro-democracy influence shrank significantly after 2003, with the Democratic Party dropped their seats from nine seats in the 2003 election to three in their territory-wide defeat in 2007 and had not yet been able to recover from it until the 2019 landslide victory which gave the pro-democrats the control of the council with 28 of the 40 seats and Democratic Party rebounding to the largest party status.

Political control

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

Camp in control Largest party Years Composition
No Overall Control Civic Association 1982–1985
Pro-government Civic Association 1985–1988


Pro-government Meeting Point 1988–1991


No Overall Control United Democrats 1991–1994



Pro-democracy Democratic 1994–1997




Pro-Beijing Democratic 1997–1999




Pro-Beijing Democratic 2000–2003




Pro-Beijing Democratic → DAB 2004–2007




Pro-Beijing DAB 2008–2011



Pro-Beijing DAB 2012–2015



Pro-Beijing DAB 2016–2019




Pro-democracy → Pro-Beijing Democratic → DAB 2020–2023




Pro-Beijing DAB 2024–2027




Political makeup

Elections are held every four years.

    Political party Council members Current
members
1994 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019
  Independent 11 18 21 22 20 19 18
6 / 16
  Democratic 7 9 9 3 2 3 9
1 / 16
  DAB 4 6 4 9 12 10 6
6 / 16
  FPHE - - - - - 1 2
2 / 16
  FTU - - - - 1 2 1
1 / 16
  KEC - - - - - 0 -
0 / 16

District result maps

  • 1994
    1994
  • 1999
    1999
  • 2003
    2003
  • 2007
    2007
  • 2011
    2011
  • 2015
    2015
  • 2019
    2019

Members represented

Capacity Code Constituency Name Political affiliation Term Notes
Elected J01 Kwun Tong Southeast Pang Chi-sang FPHE 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Kan Ming-tung FTU 1 January 2024 Incumbent
J02 Kwun Tong Central Wilson Or Chong-shing DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Marco Ma Yat-chiu New Forum 1 January 2024 Incumbent
J03 Kwun Tong North Cheung Pui-kong DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Fu Pik-chun Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
J04 Kwun Tong West Tam Siu-cheuk DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Tony Lee Ka-hang FTU 1 January 2024 Incumbent
District Committees Cheung Yiu-pan DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Derek Tsang Wing-fai DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
April Feng Yunsi DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Au Yeung Kwan-nok DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Ching Hoi-yan FTU 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Wong Kai-san FTU 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Cheng Keung-fung FPHE 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Ng Ting-fung Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Sophia Lee Shuk-woon Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Yu Ka-ming Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Lam Fung Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Kam Kin Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Fong Yat-kwan Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Boe Zhan Bao-yu Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Tang Wing-chun Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Kwan Kin-wing Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Appointed Hung Kam-in DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Hsu Yau-wai DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Jack Cheung Ki-tang DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Juliana Yu DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Alan Yu Siu-lung FTU/DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Lui Tung-hai FPHE 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Ng Si-wah Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Yu Man Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Lam Wai Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Renee Leung Sze-wan Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Lin Ho-man Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Jimmy Chan Yiu-hung Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Jackson Wong Chun-ping Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Lau Kar-wah Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Chu Lok-wai Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Lai Wing-chun Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent

Leadership

Chairs

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

Chairman Years Political Affiliation
David Tsui Kwan-ping 1981–1982 District Officer
Kevin I. K. Mak 1982–1985 District Officer
Lam Hang-fai 1985–1994 Independent
Winnie Poon Yam Wai-chun 1994–1997 Independent
Hau Shui-pui 1997–2003 Independent
Bunny Chan Chung-bun 2004–2019 Independent
Choy Chak-hung 2020–2021 Independent
Wilson Or Chong-shing 2021–2023 DAB
Denny Ho Lap-ki 2024–present District Officer

Vice Chairs

Vice Chairman Years Political Affiliation
Wu Kwok-cheung 2000–2003 Independent
Leung Fu-wing 2004–2007 Independent
So Lai-chun 2008–2015 Independent
Hung Kam-in 2016–2019 DAB
Mok Kin-shing 2020–2021 Democratic
Lui Tung-hai 2021–2023 Independent

Notes

References

  1. ^ "【泛民怎樣守住一區 3】老本漸散 他們在地區紮根". 立場新聞. 21 September 2015.