Объединенные демократы Гонконга: история первой политической партии

Political party in Hong Kong

The United Democrats of Hong Kong (; UDHK) was the first political party in Hong Kong. Founded in 1990, the short lived party was the united front of the liberal democracy forces in preparation of the 1991 first ever direct election for the Legislative 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 party Meeting Point to form the contemporary Democratic Party.

The United Democrats had a large labour component among its top leadership. 6 of its 30 Central Committee members, including Szeto Wah and Lau Chin shek, were leaders of the major independent unions, namely the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (PTU) and the Hong 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 as Tuen Mun's Ng Ming yum and Sha Tin's Lau Kong wah and Wong Hong chung and Eastern District's Man Sai cheong who brought their local networks into the party.

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 the Meeting Point, the Hong Kong Affairs Society (HKAS) and the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), the three major pro democracy groups at the time had already formed the Joint Committee on the Promotion of Democratic Government (JCPDG) for the 1988 direction election for the Legislative Council. Soon after the Tiananmen 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 as Lau Chin shek from the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee (HKCIC), Cheung Man kwong and Szeto Wah from the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (HKPTU) and Michael 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. In July, it held the party's first general meeting. It soon opened six district branches and extended to nine after the 1991 Legislative Council election. It was headed by barrister Martin Lee, as well as Szeto Wah who remained the leader of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. As such, the party was labelled "anti Beijing" as their support for the democratic movements in China. In 1992, United Democrat Ng Ming yum died suddenly and left his seat in the Legislative Council vacant. Vice Chairman Albert Ho was defeated by rural leader Tang Siu tong in the by election. In 1993, Lau Kong wah, a Sha Tin District Board member and Regional Councillor who did not follow the instruction from the party authority and Sha Tin District Board chairman Choy Kan pui resigned from the party citing the party being too radical and confrontational. The two later formed the Civil Force, a pro Beijing community organisation. The United Democrats supported Chris Patten, the last Governor's controversial 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 member Preliminary Working Committee (PWC) for the preparation works of the establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and planning for an alternative body, the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) to the 1995 elected legislature under Patten's proposal. No members from the United Democrats was appointed as PWC member or Hong Kong Affairs Advisor. In preparation for the District Board elections in September 1994, the Urban and Regional elections in March 1995 and the first fully elected LegCo elections in September 1995, the United Democrats merged with another liberal party Meeting Point in April 1994 to form the Democratic Party.

Election Number ofpopular votes % ofpopular votes GCseats FCseats Total seats +/− Position 1991 618,209 45.15 12 2 12 1st
Note: Each voter got two votes in the 1991 Election.

Election Number ofpopular votes % ofpopular votes UrbCoseats RegCoseats Totalelected seats 1991 146,229 37.33

Election Number ofpopular votes % ofpopular votes Totalelected seats 1991 109,747 20.64