The 2023 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 10 December 2023 for all 18 District Councils of Hong Kong, electing 264 of the 470 seats in the councils. Under the new electoral system, 88 of the elected 264 seats were directly elected by 4.3 million voters, while 176 of them were indirectly elected among some 2,400 members of the government-appointed District Committees. More than one-third of the remaining seats were appointed by the Chief Executive.
The electoral changes passed earlier in the year revived appointed seats in the deliberation bodies, introduced seats elected by government-appointed District Committees, and tightened eligibility with vetting and mandatory nomination from the District Committee members. As a result, this is the first election in Hong Kong contested by pro-Beijing candidates only, as the pro-democracy camp, which won a landslide in the last election amidst protests, had faced challenges since under the national security law, and under the new electoral rules, both pro-democracy and moderate parties failed to earn enough nominations to enter the race.
Despite the government's efforts to boost the voter turnout, only 1.19 million voters, or 27.5% of registered voters cast their ballots, the lowest ever in the Hong Kong District Council's history and the lowest among all elections since China took control of Hong Kong. The largest pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) regained its status as the largest party in the district councils, winning 109 seats, while many smaller parties, which lacked strong community networks and resources, failed to win many seats.
Background.
Suppression of pro-democrats.
In the previous District Council elections, in 2019, the pro-democracy camp in conjunction with the localist camp achieved its biggest landslide victory in the history of Hong Kong, gaining absolute majority in votes and electoral seats in all of the 18 District Councils and tripling their seats from around 124 to about 388 amid the highly intensified territory-wide anti-government protests. In response, the Beijing government installed the far-reaching Hong Kong national security law and the massive overhaul of the city's Legislative Council electoral system.
In May 2021, the Hong Kong government passed the Public Offices (Candidacy and Taking Up Offices) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2021 to imposes oath-taking requirements on District Council members. Six months before the bill passage, dozens of opposition District Councillors resigned for refusal to take an oath under the new law.
In early July 2021, the government reportedly considered banning 230 councillors to take oath of office and would ask them return their accrued salaries which worth around a million dollars. Such reports triggered a mass resignation of more than 260 pro-democracy councillors, while eight other had been unseated as they were in custody or had left the city.
Following four oath-taking ceremonies starting in early September, oaths taken by 49 District Councillors were ruled invalid without any explanation. Together with the councillors who resigned, fled and imprisoned, it left a total of more than 70 per cent seats in the 18 District Councils vacant. Under the amended Oaths and Declarations Ordinance, the disqualified District Councillors would be banned from standing in elections for the next five years.
The pro-Beijing camp was able to take back control of several councils, including Kowloon City, Kwun Tong, Wan Chai and North District. The number of the members in some councils also reduced significantly, Wong Tai Sin to just two members, Central and Western District to three members, and Southern District to four, which paralysed some of the functions of these councils. Nevertheless, Chief Executive Carrie Lam in July 2021 announced that no by-elections would be held during her tenure.
Election overhaul.
On 2 May 2023, Chief Executive John Lee announced a major revamp of the District Council electoral system to prevent the councils from being "manipulated and paralysed" by those promoting "separatism" and violence, safeguard national security and implement the principle of "patriots running Hong Kong". Under the plan, the number of the elected seats will be significantly reduced to around 20 per cent, while each of the 40 per cent of the seats will be returned by indirect elections and appointed by the Chief Executive.
A total of 88 directly-elected seats in 44 constituencies will be returned by double-seat single-vote system, while 176 indirectly-elected seats will be elected by members of the government-appointed District Committees, or "three committees" (), namely the District Fight Crime Committees (DFCCs), the District Fire Safety Committees (DFSCs), the Area Committees (ACs), in the respective district by block vote. All candidates must obtain three nominations from each of the three committees besides more than 50 local voters and confirm their eligibility through an eligibility review committee to decide whether a candidate complies with the legal requirements and conditions of upholding the Basic Law and bearing allegiance to the government.
On 28 September, David Lok Kai-hong, chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC), said the opening hours for the District Council elections will run from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., an hour less when compared to the previous term in 2019 but the same as that of the Legislative Council election in 2021.
Veteran litigant Kwok Cheuk-kin, who was also a member of the Democratic Party known as the "King of Judicial Review", filed an application for judicial review in November against the nomination system, arguing that some three-quarters of the candidates were also on three committees responsible for deciding who could stand, making it hard for non-committee members to get nominated.
High Court Judge Russell Coleman reportedly said that it was "surprising" that most of the committee members had made nominations from among their own members, but dismissed Kwok's appeal dismissed, ruling that the it was "not sufficient" to conclude that it was only because of an unfairness in the nomination system that the pro-democracy politicians did not secure enough nominations. "What is shown is that members of the 3Cs [three committees] tend to favour themselves or their peers. But that is not necessarily inappropriate when the individual characteristic of members of the 3Cs (part of the reason they were appointed in the first place) is taken into account," Coleman said in the statement.
Nominations.
The Electoral Affairs Commission received 400 nominations in the nomination period, 228 of which were running for the 176 seats in the District Committee constituencies indirectly elected by some 2,500 members of the "three committees" and 171 for the 88 seats in the 44 geographical constituencies directly elected 4.3 million registered voters. None of the candidates was from the opposition camp, which first joined the local elections in 1985. According to "Hong Kong Free Press's" calculation, more than 75 per cent of the geographical constituencies candidates were also members of the three committees which were responsible for nominating candidates.
The pro-democracy parties which intended to run had experienced difficulties in seeking nominations from the members of the "three committees", many of which came from the pro-Beijing parties, as the Home Affairs Department refused to disclose personal contact details citing the "privacy of personal data".
The Democratic Party became the first remaining pro-democracy party to announce that they would contest in the election with six candidates, two less than expected. However on 30 October, it announced that none of its candidates had succeeded in getting the nominations from the "three committees" required to run. As a result, the party would be absent in the district council election for the first time since its establishment in 1994.
Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL) was second in the pro-democracy camp to declare the intention to join the elections by filling two candidates. Neither of its candidates was able to enter the race.
Third Side, the only non-establishment party in the legislature, abandoned the campaign as three hopefuls could not receive enough nominations.
Even pro-Beijing legislator Michael Tien complained about candidates from his party Roundtable being unable to obtain nominations from the "three committees" members. Roundtable had hoped to field five candidates, but only one of its members had got the number of nominations required to stand.
Zheng Yanxiong, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong, on 30 October said there were "recognised standards" for patriots and “it would be impossible for someone, or some political parties, who were opposing Hong Kong and China, to become patriotic just for chanting certain slogans overnight".
Turnout campaign.
Following the record-low turnout of the 2021 legislative election as a consequence of the opposition's boycott, some experts predicted a record-low voter turnout for the 2023 local elections. Officials insisted a high turnout does not equate to a successful election and that such a result would not be blindly pursued; however, they also vowed to promote the local elections "by all means". Dozens of promotional videos were published by the government; posters and leaflets urging the public to vote could also be found across the city.
In November 2023, Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan said that Hong Kong's 170,000 civil servants "are duty-bound to vote, and they should lead by example to let the public know about the importance of voting." Pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) politician Starry Lee refused to predict the voter turnout, but said "I have received only positive feedback from residents" and that it was a "good sign" that election promoting was carried out "in a healthy way."
Chief Executive John Lee also asked for civil servants to boost voter turnout, stating "It is also a civic responsibility to vote, that's why we have asked civil servants to demonstrate that civic responsibility to come out to vote." Lee avoided answering a question on whether low voter turnout would discredit the new voting system, and both Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak and Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang said that low voter turnout was not necessarily a failure.
Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung also appealed to retired civil servants to vote as "it is their civic responsibility to do so". Amid reports about potential penalties for civil servants who do not cast a ballot, Eric Chan criticised on 3 December unspecified individuals for having "ulterior motives" of spreading false information online.
Leung Chau-ting, the founder and chairman of the Federation of Civil Service Union, expressed concern over the government plan sending out thank-you card for people after casting their vote, noting the pressure felt by the civil servants due to the government and bureaux' overwhelming appeals, as there have never been any repeated calls by the government for civil officials to cast ballots in prior elections. In response, Eric Chan stressed the government would "definitely not" require civil servants to use the card as proof and called on people not to come up with conspiracy theories.
The Hong Kong government on 28 November announced a series of activities, including outdoor music performances, a drone show and a Security Bureau-themed photograph exhibition, on 12 December, a day before the polling day, in an attempt to "further enhance the election atmosphere". As the government designated the day following election as a school holiday after some schools in the past elections were affected due to a delay of vote counting, pro-government members voiced concern that families could leave Hong Kong for vacations and hence hamper the turnout. In response the authorities said activities were under planning to attract students to stay.
In December 2023, it was reported that the government would spend approximately HK$3.4 million on elderly care centers in order for them to help the elderly vote; in response, Legislative Councillor Doreen Kong cautioned that the government "should ensure that elderly people choose to go voluntarily" and that "the centres should also be sensitive as to whether they will affect the elderly people's voting preference when they walk them to the polling station." Alice Mak later refuted the claim and argued that the subsidies would not affect fairness in the polls. Civil Service Bureau also reportedly warned government outsourcing companies that not allowing sufficient time for staff to vote may undermine further bidding.
Political commentator Sonny Lo Shiu-hing said that "On the surface, the government says the voting rate is not important, but in fact, what it is doing is obviously all about boosting the turnout. After all, the turnout rate reflects the election’s legitimacy to a certain degree."
Under a special programme, the Hong Kong government also set up voting booths close to the border of Mainland China to allow