United Democrats of Hong Kong 香港民主同盟 | |
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| Chairman | Martin Lee |
| Vice-Chairmen | Yeung Sum Albert Ho |
| Founded | 23 April 1990 |
| Dissolved | 2 October 1994 |
| Succeeded by | Democratic Party |
| Ideology | Liberalism (HK) Liberal democracy |
| Regional affiliation | Pro-democracy camp |
| Colours | Green |
| United Democrats of Hong Kong | |||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 香港民主同盟 | ||||||
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TheUnited Democrats of Hong Kong (Chinese:香港民主同盟, 港同盟;UDHK) was the firstpolitical party inHong Kong.[1] Founded in 1990, the short-lived party was the united front of theliberal democracy forces in preparation of the1991 first ever direct election for theLegislative Council of Hong Kong. The party won a landslide victory by sweeping 12 of the 18 directly elected seats in the election which shook the political landscape of Hong Kong. In 1994 it was merged with another pro-democracy partyMeeting Point to form the contemporaryDemocratic Party.
The main objectives of Democrats are to maintain the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, to better the welfare and quality of life of the people of Hong Kong; and to strengthen the position of Hong Kong as an industrial, commercial and international financial centre. In pursuit of these aims, the party strived
The United Democrats had a large labour component among its top leadership. 6 of its 30 Central Committee members, includingSzeto Wah andLau Chin-shek, were leaders of the major independent unions, namely theHong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (PTU) and theHong Kong Christian Industrial Committee (CIC) respectively. They are veterans of labour protests and community movements. Some other core members of the party were experienced in collective mobilisation and electoral campaigns, such asTuen Mun'sNg Ming-yum andSha Tin'sLau Kong-wah and Wong Hong-chung andEastern District'sMan Sai-cheong who brought their local networks into the party.[3]
The United Democrats of Hong Kong was established on 23 April 1990 as a grand alliance of the pro-democracy activists. As early as 1988, the pro-democratic groups including theMeeting Point, theHong Kong Affairs Society (HKAS) and theAssociation for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), the three major pro-democracy groups at the time had already formed theJoint Committee on the Promotion of Democratic Government (JCPDG) for the1988 direction election for the Legislative Council. Soon after theTiananmen Square protests of 1989, the pro-democracy camp decided to come together to resist the foreseeing pressure from Beijing after 1997. The preparatory committee was formed by individuals from the pro-democracy pressure groups and unions, such asLau Chin-shek from theHong Kong Christian Industrial Committee (HKCIC),Cheung Man-kwong andSzeto Wah from theHong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (HKPTU) andMichael Ho from the Association of Hong Kong Nursing Staff (AHKNS).Frederick Fung Kin-kee, chairman of the ADPL later quit the preparatory committee as he said the stance of the United Democrats did not fit the pro-grassroots stance of the ADPL.
On 23 April 1990, the party was officially launched by some 220 activists and mostly service professionals from the ranks of social workers, teachers, university professors, independent union activists, church leaders, and lawyers.[4] In July, it held the party's first general meeting. It soon opened six district branches and extended to nine after the1991 Legislative Council election. It was headed by barristerMartin Lee, as well as Szeto Wah who remained the leader of theHong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. As such, the party was labelled "anti-Beijing" as their support for thedemocratic movements in China.[4]
After the United Democrats gained a landslide victory in theUrban Council and Regional Council elections in 1991, it began to prepare for the first direct election in September. However the fight for the candidacy led to many members returning to their original organisations, such as Meeting Point'sLi Wah-ming,Zachary Wong andTik Chi-yuen. The United Democrats also failed to reach agreement with the ADPL inKowloon West. At last, the United Democrats formed an electoral alliance with the Meeting Point. The party won a landslide victory, winning 12 of the 18 directly elected seats and twofunctional constituency seats due to the widespread of anti-Beijing sentiments after the Tiananmen crackdown and also the electoral system. On 17 September 1991, Martin Lee led a delegation of 14 Legislative Councillors-elect from the United Democrats to meet theGovernorDavid Wilson, demanded the Governor to respect the wishes of the people expressed in the election and filled the LegCo appointed seats with liberal-minded people.[5]
In 1992, United DemocratNg Ming-yum died suddenly and left his seat in the Legislative Council vacant. Vice-ChairmanAlbert Ho was defeated by rural leaderTang Siu-tong in theby-election. In 1993,Lau Kong-wah, aSha Tin District Board member andRegional Councillor who did not follow the instruction from the party authority and Sha Tin District Board chairmanChoy Kan-pui resigned from the party citing the party being too radical and confrontational. The two later formed theCivil Force, a pro-Beijing community organisation.
The United Democrats supportedChris Patten, the last Governor'scontroversial reform proposal which largely broadened the franchise and heavily criticised by Beijing. The party remained open critic of the Beijing policies. After the reform proposal was passed, the Beijing government set up the 57-memberPreliminary Working Committee (PWC) for the preparation works of the establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and planning for an alternative body, theProvisional Legislative Council (PLC) to the 1995 elected legislature under Patten's proposal. No members from the United Democrats was appointed as PWC member orHong Kong Affairs Advisor.[6]
In preparation for theDistrict Board elections in September 1994, theUrban and Regional elections in March 1995 and thefirst fully elected LegCo elections in September 1995, the United Democrats merged with another liberal party Meeting Point in April 1994 to form theDemocratic Party.[7]
| Election | Number of popular votes | % of popular votes | GC seats | FC seats | Total seats | +/− | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 618,209 | 45.15 | 12 | 2 | 14 / 60 | 12 | 1st |
Note: Each voter got two votes in the 1991 Election.
| Election | Number of popular votes | % of popular votes | UrbCo seats | RegCo seats | Total elected seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 146,229 | 37.33 | 5 / 15 | 6 / 12 | 10 / 27 |
| Election | Number of popular votes | % of popular votes | Total elected seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 109,747 | 20.64 | 52 / 272 |
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