From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hong Kong Chief Executive election of 2005
was held to fill the vacancy of the territory's top office. Tung Chee Hwa
submitted a resignation document to the Chinese
government, and it was officially approved on 12 March. On 24
June, Donald Tsang
was sworn in as the new Chief Executive on 16 June. Since Tsang was
the only candidate, no actual election was held.
History
During the 1996 and 2002 election,
an 800-member Election Committee was used to elect
the Chief Executive. Unlike the US system, there is no universal
suffrage or universal right to vote. Senior employees, managers
and professionals mainly vote pro-China to ensure their businesses
can run smoothly. They were entirely biased in favor of Beijing's stance in the
previous two elections.[1]
The previously elected Tung Chee Hwa had long been an unpopular
Chief
executive. Tung claimed his health was deteriorating early in
2005 and announced he was ready to resign. He filed for resignation
on 10 March[2], and
two days later it was approved.
As of early April, there were 33 vacant spots, and nominations
were opened for a poll to fill them.
On 1 May a by-election was held to fill the 33 vacant
spots in the electoral college. Since four of the members are
ex-officio members by more than one channels (e.g. deputy to PRC's National People's Congress
and member of the Legislative Council
simultaneously), so that there were only 796 electors.
Next, from 3 June to 16 June nominations were open to candidates
who wanted to participate in this election. Donald Tsang for a long time remained the
front-runner. He was declared elected unopposed as he was the only
candidate managed to have 100 or more nominations from members of
the Election Committee.
In the interim, Tsang and later Henry Tang served as acting Chief Executives
in accordance with the Basic Law. Tsang was subsequently re-elected
on 25 March 2007, and served a new five-year term starting from 1
July 2007.
Relevant text of the Basic
Law
Article
52
Article 52 item 1 cites a health illness as an acceptable reason
for resignation:
|
“ |
"The Chief Executive
of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region must resign under
any of the following circumstances:
(1) When he or she loses the ability to discharge his or her duties
as a result of serious illness or other reasons.[3]" |
” |
Given the status of this resignation as voluntary (as Tung
claims), and there are allegations that the citing of health
reasons may not be an actual truth, as there is technically nothing
prohibiting the use of excuses in such a manner. It is rumoured
that the actual motive is a decision imposed by the central
government, but it can also be a desire to spend more time with
the family or many other reasons.
Article
53
Article 53 gives the provisions for an acting Chief
Executive.
This gave Donald
Tsang, the Secretary of
Administration at the time, the right to act as Chief Executive
from 12 March to 25 May. He then had to resign, since it was
illegal for him to become a candidate while acting as Chief
Executive at the same time. Henry Tang, who was then Financial Secretary,
filled him in according to the article. He then appointed Michael Suen as the
new (acting in the interim) Chief Secretary. When Tsang was elected
he was brought before the central government for approval and
inauguration. The second section of Article 53 gives provisions for
a new election.
|
“ |
"In the event that
the office of Chief Executive becomes vacant, a new Chief Executive
shall be selected within six months in accordance with the
provisions of Article 45 of this Law.
During the period of vacancy, his or her duties shall be assumed
according to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.[3]" |
” |
The process is well defined under this clause, and Tsang's term
as acting Chief Executive was limited to six months. The Chief
Executive Election Ordinance defines the time as 120 days, give or
take a few days, (ensuring an election on Sunday rather than on a
weekday), which made 10 July the date for the election, if one had
been warranted by multiple candidature.
Article
45
Article 45 gives the
requirements for choosing the Chief Executive, and Annex I does
likewise in a more specific manner.
|
“ |
"The Chief Executive
of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be selected by
election or through consultations held locally and be appointed by
the Central People's Government.[3]" |
” |
Annex I
The specific method for selecting the Chief Executive is
prescribed in Basic Law Annex I: "Method for the Selection of the
Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region".
The Election Committee shall be composed
of 800 members from the following sectors:
Article
46
Article 46 was a subject of controversy regarding the term of
the newly-elected Chief Executive. The article states:
|
“ |
"The term of office
of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region shall be five years. He or she may serve for not more than
two consecutive terms." |
” |
The law requires a term of five years, but mainland
officials have said the new leader filling-in can only serve until
2007. The matter was settled after a re-interpretation by the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC).[4]
Though this did damage the credibility and integrity of the one country, two systems
formula.[4]
A literal interpretation would mean Tsang has to serve until
2010, but this is not common sense behaviour in most other nations;
one can only complete the term of a predecessor. The Chinese
government has decided that the new leader would serve until Inauguration
day in 2007.
The
Election
Election Committee
Vacancies
In April 2005, 33 vacancies (27 from the regular constituencies,
6 from the religious sector) existed in the Election
Committee. Nominations were accepted over a one-week timeframe
from 9 April to 15 April to fill the seats. The six empty seats in
the religious sector were appointed by the religious councils. Out
of the 27 seats in 16 functional
constituencies, 12 candidates were immediately declared elected
to their seats because there were no more candidates competing than
the number of seats available, and hence, these ones were declared
elected unopposed.
In the other seven constituencies, where 15 vacancies were
present, a poll was held on 1 May, and the count was conducted
smoothly with all the elected candidates expected to be entered
onto the official listing of Election Committee members within the
near future. The by-election was marked by voter apathy, where only
15% of the eligible population turned up, with some constituencies
reporting as low as 12%, despite the pleadings of the Hong Kong Government. Only two functional
constituencies, Agriculture
and Fisheries (85%) and District Council (86%)
had higher voter turnouts than one quarter.
Chief
Executive Election
In early June, candidature nominations were held. The support of
100 Election Committee members is required (Ann. 1, Sect. 4, above)
for nominations to be valid. Given the largely pro-China status of
the Election Committee, it became common for the favoured candidate
of the Chinese government to get elected unopposed. Given there
were four vacancies in the EC, 697 signatures would theoretically
be necessary to secure unopposed election.
Contenders
| Name in English |
Name in Chinese |
Position |
Support in EC |
Nomination |
| Donald
Tsang |
曾蔭權 |
Former Chief Secretary |
674 |
Valid |
| Lee Wing Tat |
李永達 |
Chairman of the Democratic Party and
Member of the Legislative Council |
52 |
Invalid |
| Chim Pui
Chung |
詹培忠 |
Member of the Legislative Council |
21 |
Invalid |
Tsang instantly became the frontrunner in the race to succeed
Tung, due to his lengthy experience and high approval ratings.
The
Standard cited high-level sources saying that Beijing
hoped Tsang would forestall any possibility of being challenged for
the office by securing at least 500 to 700 nominating votes.
Sources close to Tsang confirmed Beijing was worried that a
contested election could lead to political uncertainty, and wanted
to be sure that "no one runs against their man".[5]
On 15 June, Tsang handed in his nomination form which bore the
signatures of 674 members of Election Committee. Later in the evening,
the Returning Officer, Madam Justice
Carlye Chu Fun Ling vetted the nomination form and determined that
his nomination as a candidate in the election was valid[6]. The
other candidates failed, having garnered fewer than the required
100 backers, Tsang was declared the only valid candidate in the
election. Tsang was declared elected unopposed on 16 June, gazetted
by the Government on 21 June, and duly inaugurated on 24 June.
Campaign
finances
During the election campaign, Donald Tsang received about
HK$27.33 million sponsorship for the campaign, about 20% of which
came from the businessmen from the property sector. Although Tsang
stated publicly that each sponsor could not sponsor in excess of
one hundred-thousand Hong Kong
dollars, some of the businessmen sponsored him in different
names, for example, Stanley Ho and Lee Shau Kee each sponsored HK$1 million
under their family members' names. In the end Tsang used only
HK$4.12 million of the sponsorship. The remaining HK$23.21 million
dollars would be donated to 14 charitable organizations.
References
External
links
Laws
Pages
from the Hong Kong Government's election website
Press Releases
from the Hong Kong Government
The most recent are listed at the top.
Chief
Executive elections
Election Committee
by-elections
On the
interpretation of the Election laws
Tung Chee Hwa's
resignation
2007 ›
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