New faces emerge as veteran politicians step down in Hong Kong legislative election

In the New Territories West geographical constituency, nonpartisan pan-democrat Eddie Chu was elected with 84,121 votes, the most given to any list in the geographical constituencies. Other anti-establishment candidates elected in this district were localist camp’s Cheng Chung-tai of Civic Passion, pan-democracy camp’s Kwok Ka-ki and Andrew Wan of respectively Civic Party and the Democratic Party. The pro-Beijing camp candidates elected were New People Party’s Michael Tien, DAB’s Ben Chan and Leung Che-cheung, FTU’s Alice Mak and pro-establishment nonpartisan Junius Ho. Two pan-democratic veteran politicians Lee Cheuk-yan of the Labour Party and Frederick Fung of ADPL were defeated in this constituency, with Junius Ho defeating Lee Cheuk-yan by around five thousand votes.

In the New Territories East geographical constituency, pan-democracy camp councillors Alvin Yeung from the Civic Party, Fernando Cheung of the Labour Party, Raymond Chan of People Power, and Leung Kwok-hung of LSD were successfully elected. Pan-democrat Lam Cheuk-ting from the Democratic Party and localist group Youngspiration’s Baggio Leung were successfully elected newcomers. For the Pro-Beijing camp, Elizabeth Quat of DAB was elected with 58,825 votes, the highest in the constituency. Other pro-Beijing candidates elected in this constituency were Gary Chan of DAB and Eunice Yung of New People’s Party. Pan-democrat Gary Fan of the Neo Democrats failed to get re-elected in this constituency, and resigned from his leadership in his party due to its election defeat.

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In the Hong Kong Island geographical constituency, pro-Beijing New People Party’s Regina Ip was re-elected with 60,760 votes. Other pro-Beijing elected were FTU’s Kwok Wai-keung and DAB’s Horace Cheung. Demosisto’s Nathan Law earned a surprise victory as second place in the constituency with 50,818 votes, and becomes the youngest Legislative Council member in Hong Kong’s history. The other two anti-establishment camp elects were Hui Chi-fung from the Democratic Party and Tanya Chan of the Civic Party, both considered to be in the pan-democracy camp. Pan-democrat veteran Cyd Ho from the Labour Party lost her seat in this constituency.

In the Kowloon West geographical constituency, pro-Beijing councillors Ann Chiang of DAB and Priscilla Leung of BPA were successfully re-elected, as well as pan-democratic councillors Claudia Mo of the Civic Party and Wong Pik-wan of the Democratic Party. The rest of the candidates elected in this constituency were young and relatively new activists from the localist camp, Lau Siu-lai and Youngspiration’s Yau Wai-ching. Yau Wai-ching defeated another localist camp candidate, veteran politician Raymond Wong of the Proletariat Political Institute, by 424 votes.

In the Kowloon East geographical constituency, pro-Beijing district councillor Wilson Or was elected with 51,516 votes, the highest in this constituency. Nonpartisan Paul Tse and Wong Kwok-kin of the FTU were successfully re-elected. Pan-democracy camp councillor Wu Chi-wai of the Democratic Party was elected. Civic Party’s Jeremy Tam was elected for the first time. Localist group Civic Passion’s Wong Yeung-tat was defeated in this district, and resigned his leadership in Civic Passion.

In the District Council (Second) functional constituency, commonly know as “Super District Council” seats, pan-democracy camp’s Kwong Chun-yu of the Democratic Party received 491,667 votes, the highest in this constituency. Other pan-democrats elected were Leung Yiu-chung of NWSC and James To of the Democratic Party. Pro-Beijing DAB’s Starry Lee and Holden Chow were successfully elected in this constituency, while pro-Beijing veteran politician Wong Kwok-hing of FTU was defeated by 10,694 votes by James To.

In traditional functional constituencies, the pan-democracy camp gained a seat from the pro-Beijing camp. Shiu Ka-chun of the Social Welfare constituency defeated their opponents, hence the pan-democrats’ seats in the functional constituencies increased from 9 to 10. Also, an independent who does not claim to belong to either camp, Edward Yiu of the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape constituency, defeated his opponents and was elected.

The turnout of this election was the highest in the history of Legislative Council elections, with around 2 million voters voted and a turnout rate of 58%. At a polling station in Taikoo of the Hong Kong Island constituency, after the polls closed at 22:30, with the long queues outside the station the last ballot there was cast at 02:30 the next day, four hours after the last person was allowed to join the queue. The previous general legislative election in Hong Kong was before the 2014 protests. The election elects 70 members of the Legislative Council.