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Wan Chai District Council

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Wan Chai District Council

灣仔區議會
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
History
Founded20 February 1982 (1982-02-20) (District Board)
1 July 1997 (1997-07-01) (Provisional)
1 January 2000 (2000-01-01) (District Council)
Leadership
Chair
Fanny Cheung Ngan-ling, Independent
Structure
Seats10 councillors
consisting of
2 elected members
4 district committee members
4 appointed members
2 / 10
2 / 10
2 / 10
1 / 10
3 / 10
Elections
First past the post
Last election
10 December 2023
Meeting place
21/F, Southorn Centre, 130 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
Website
www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/wc/
Wan Chai District Council
Traditional Chinese灣仔區議會
Simplified Chinese湾仔区议会
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinWān Zǎi Qū​yìhuì
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationWāan jái kēui yíh wuih
JyutpingWaan1 zai2 keoi1 ji5 wui6

The Wan Chai District Council is the district council for the Wan Chai District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Wan Chai District Council currently consists of 10 members, of which the district is divided into one constituency, electing a total of 2 members, 4 district committee members, and 4 appointed members. The latest election was held on 10 December 2023.

History

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The predecessor of Wan Chai District Council was established on 20 February 1982 under the name of the Wan Chai 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 members to the council.

The Wan Chai District Board was replaced by the Wan Chai 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 new Wan Chai District Council was established on 1 January 2000 after the first 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 Wan Chai District Council is the smallest District Council, having only 13 members due to its small population. Due to its continuing shrinking in size, the government in 2015 decided to transfer Tin Hau and Victoria Park constituencies from the Eastern District Council to Wan Chai.[1]

The Wan Chai District Council has been controlled by the conservatives with Peggy Lam being the chairwoman of the council from 1985 to 2003. The conservative control was interrupted between 2003 and 2007, when the pro-democrats and their allies took advance of the anti-government sentiment of the 2003 July 1 march in which the newly established Civic Act-up under Legislative Councillor Cyd Ho became the largest party in the council in the 2003 election and make nonpartisan Ada Wong Ying-kay the council chairwoman. The pro-democracy council was noted for its community reforms, stressing the citizens' involvement in the community planning, such as the urban renewal projects including the controversy over the demolition of Lee Tung Street. The pro-democracy council lasted for one term until the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) retook its largest party status in the 2007 election while Civic Act-up lost all their seats.[2]

The 2019–20 pro-democracy protests brought a historic landslide victory to the pro-democrats in the November election with members of the local political group Kickstart Wan Chai who all ran as independents won numbers of seats, ousting long-time pro-Beijing incumbents and took control of the council for the first time since 2003 election.

Political control

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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 Reform Club 1985 - 1988



Pro-government Civic Association 1988 - 1991




Pro-government United Democrats 1991 - 1994



Pro-Beijing DAB 1994 - 1997




Pro-Beijing DAB 1997 - 1999




Pro-Beijing DAB 2000 - 2003




NOC → Pro-democracy Civic Act-up 2004 - 2007




Pro-Beijing DAB 2008 - 2011




Pro-Beijing DAB 2012 - 2015




Pro-Beijing DAB 2016 - 2019




Pro-democracy → Pro-Beijing Liberal 2020 - 2023




Pro-Beijing Independent 2024 - 2027




Political makeup

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Elections are held every four years.

Political party Council members
1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Independent 4 7 5 5 1 3 4 8 7 7 11 1
DAB 3 3 1 3 4 1
Liberal 1 1 1 1
VSA 1
NPP 1 1
Democratic 3 2 2 2
LSD 1
Civic Act-up 3
Wan Chai Community Union 1
CRA 1 1
HKPA 1
LDF 1
HKDF 1
United Democrats 2
Civic 1 1 3 1
Citizen Forum 1
HKAS 2
Reform 2
Total elected members 5 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 13 13 2
Other members 12 6 6 5 0 3 3 3 2 0 0 8

Members represented

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Capacity Code Constituency Name Political affiliation Term Notes
Elected B01 Wan Chai Nicholas Muk Ka-chun DAB 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Peggy Lee Pik-yee Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
District Committees Joey Lee Man-lung NPP 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Wind Lam Wai-man Liberal 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Sam Ng Chak-sum Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Ruby Mok Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Appointed Lam Wai-kong FTU 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Chow Kam-wai Liberal 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Sun Tao-hung Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent
Lau Pui-shan Independent 1 January 2024 Incumbent

Leadership

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Chairs

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Between 1985 and 2023, the chairman is elected by all the members of the council.

Chairman Years Political Affiliation
A. G. Cooper 1982–1983 District Officer
Lolly Chiu Yuen-chu 1983–1984 District Officer
Lam Kam-kwong 1984–1985 District Officer
Peggy Lam Pei[3] 1985–2003 NonpartisanLiberalIndependent
Ada Wong Ying-kay 2004–2007 IndependentCivic Act-up
Suen Kai-cheong[4] 2008–2015 DAB
Stephen Ng Kam-chun 2016–2019 Independent
Clarisse Yeung Suet-ying 2020–2021 Independent
Ivan Wong Wang-tai 2021–2023 Independent
Fanny Cheung Ngan-ling 2024–present District Officer

Vice Chairs

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Vice Chairman Years Political Affiliation
Suen Kai-cheong 2000–2003 DAB
John Tse Wing-ling 2004–2007 DemocraticIndependent
Stephen Ng Kam-chun 2008–2015 Independent
Jennifer Chow Kit-bing 2016–2019 DAB
Mak King-sing 2020–2021 Independent
Wind Lam Wai-man 2021–2023 Liberal

Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "Public Consultation on Demarcation of District boundary between Eastern and Wan Chai Districts". Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau.
  2. ^ "【真假區議會 2】真議會是怎樣誕生的? 2004年灣仔實驗". 立場新聞. 27 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Wan Chai Green Trail" (PDF). Wan Chai District Board and Conservancy Association. 1994. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "Wan Chai District Council Members (2008 - 2011)". Wan Chai District Council. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
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