Pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong)

Pro-democracy camp, pan-democracy camp or pan-democrats (Chinese: 泛民主派, 民主派 or 泛民) refer to the politicians and social activists in Hong Kong who support increased democracy and may work together in areas of common interest or by not fielding candidates against one another in elections.

Democratic activists are usually critical of the post-1997 Hong Kong Special Administration Region government and the People's Republic of China's authoritarian government, which they say does not properly represent the will of the people. People who vote for pan-democracy candidates are generally hoping to achieve some implementation of checks and balances in government, since parts of the Hong Kong community treat democracy as an important means to guarantee freedom, their lifestyle and their living standard. Its supportors also advocate a faster pace of democratisation and implementation of universal and equal suffrage. The Pan-Democracy camp is aligned with and similar to, but distinct from, the Chinese democracy movement.

Members of the camp represent a very broad social and political demographic, from the working class to the middle class and professionals. Opposite to the pan-democracy camp is the pro-Beijing camp, whose members are preceived to be supportive of the authoritarian rule exercised throughout much of China's mainland.

Due to its democracy mission in the political scene, the camp is supported by influential radio hosts, news moguls and a large number of Hong Kong citizens, which can be reflected in Hong Kong Legislative Council and District Council elections. However, they cannot hold a majority of seats due to electoral regulations.

Basic beliefs

• Vindication of the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989
• Democratic reform in China
• Universal suffrage in Hong Kong
• Improve human rights (See human rights in Hong Kong and human rights in People's Republic of China)

Relatively conservative, centrist faction:

• Large numbers of members in the Democratic Party, former members of the Meeting Point

Relatively radical faction:

• Minority in the Democratic Party
• Civic Party
• The Professional Commons

• Civic Act-up
• Neo Democrats (formed mostly by the former Young Turks in the Democratic Party)

More left, socialist faction:

• League of Social Democrats
• Labour Party
  • Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
• People Power - The Frontier as one of the member organization
• April Fifth Action

History

Members of the camp include social workers and social activists who concern about the question of Hong Kong sovereignty took part in Hong Kong's district board, Urban Council and Regional Council elections in the early 1980s, as well as professionals, mainly lawyers, who entered the Legislative Council when functional constituencies were introduced in the mid-1980s. Several political groups formed the Joint Committee on the Promotion of Democratic Government demanding for 1988 direct election and universal suffrage in the new government after 1997.

Tiananmen protests and pre-Handover period

The foundation of its public support has its roots in opposition to the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre which aroused widespread horror, sympathy and support of the protesters by Hong Kong citizens. The crackdown on Chinese media and subsequent suppression of student dissent was a mobilizing factor; and the first direct election to the Legislative Council in 1991 brought the amalgamation of some of these groups into the United Democrats of Hong Kong, which including, Szeto Wah and Martin Lee the two major icons in the protests of 1989.

The "Pro-Democracy camp" term has been in common use since the 1991 election of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, when the Democratic Party, newly merged from the United Democrats of Hong Kong and Meeting Point, together with other smaller political parties, groups and independents, won a historical landslide victory in the election, took 17 out of the 18 geographical constituency seats and controlled nearly half of the seat of the council. Some of the members of the camp, especially the Democratic Party, were often considered strategic allies of the government of Chris Patten, then governor.

Handover to China

All of its members, except the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, declined to join the extralegal Provisional Legislative Council installed by the government of the People's Republic of China, and were ousted from the territory's legislature for a year until the 1998 election. Starting from the 1998 election, since the plurality electoral system was changed to proportional representation, compounded with the restoration of corporate votes in the functional constituencies, and replacement of broad-based functional constituencies with traditional ones, the number of seats of the camp dipped, albeit having similar share of vote. Within the camp, share of smaller parties and independents increased relatively, with the share of the Democratic Party falling from around two-thirds in 1995 to less than a half by 2004.

In recent years, use of "pan-democrat" (泛民主派) is gaining in popularity, as it is typically meant to be non-denominational and all-inclusive. In addition, to some people, it is less likely than 民主派 to cause confusion with the Democratic Party (民主黨).

Members of the camp tend to use the latter term to identify themselves the "Pan-Democracy Camp" term is often used in negative tones by its detractors. "Pan-Democrat" as a title has grown in usage especially during the passage of the national security and anti-subversion legislation, so-called Article 23. The pan-democracy camp was the strong opposition to the Article 23 and they successfully called for 5 millions people to protest on 1 June 2003 against the legislation. The subsequent 2003 district councils and 2004 LegCo elections, and the debate over electoral reforms for the 2007 Chief Executive and 2008 LegCo elections.

2012 Reform Package and split

Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive, promised to resolve the question of universal suffrage in his office during the election. He carried out the 2012 constitutional package in 2009 which was criticised by the pro-democracy as lack of genuine progress. The League of Social Democrats called for a de facto referendum in five geographical constituencies. Civic Party, the second largest pro-democratic party joined the referendum. However, the largest party, Democratic Party was reluctant to participate. The Democratic Party started to have contact with the mainland officials. The Democratic Party brought out a revised proposal of the package to Beijing and the revised proposal was passed in the Legislative Council in the support of the government and Pro-Beijing camp.

However, it triggered a major split within the camp and also in the Democratic Party. The Young Turks including the LegCo member Andrew Cheng quit the party and formed the Neo Democrats. The Democratic Party was accused by the LSD and the radicals of betraying democracy and its supporters.

Criticism of the movement

The movement is criticised by numerous groups including media which is controlled by the PRC mainland Chinese government authorities and post-1997 Government of Hong Kong as an "opposition camp" (反對派), since their concerns in regards to freedom of speech, freedom of press, and self-determination contradict with the political stance of the PRC government. In some cases, pan-democracy activists have even been accused of high treason.

Electoral performance

Legislative Council elections

Election	Number of votes	Share of votes	Geographical constituency seats	Functional constituency seats	Elections committee seats	Total seats
1991	888,729	64.91%	16	4	−	20
1995	581,181	63.73%	17	10	4	31
1998	982,249	66.36%	15	5	0	20
2000	799,249	60.56%	16	5	0	21
2004	1,096,272	61.93%	18	7	−	25
2008	901,707	59.50%	19	4	−	23
2012	1,018,552	56.24%	18	9	−	27

Note: Each voter was given two votes in the 1991 Election.

District Councils elections

Election	Number of votes	Share of votes	Number of seats	Share of seats
1988	141,514	22.16%	61	23.11%
1991	170,757	32.11%	83	31.56%
1994	254,086	37.02%	126	36.42%
1999	271,251	33.45%	122	31.28%
2003	389,791	37.07%	157	39.25%
2007	404,562	35.41%	110	27.16%
2011	404,714	34.27%	85	20.63%

Members of the camp

Civil organisations, individual social activists, political parties, political groups and lawmakers who share a similar belief in democracy are all considered members of this camp. (number of Legislative Councillors shown in brackets)

The following entities are routinely referred to as members of the Pan-Democracy camp:

• Democratic Party (6)
• Civic Party (6)
• Labour Party (4)
• People Power (3)
• Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre (1)
• Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (1)
• Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (1)
• League of Social Democrats (1)
• Neo Democrats (1)
• Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (1)
• Lee Kok Long

The following political groups are represented in at least one of the district councils:

• Democratic Party
• Civic Party
• Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
• Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre (1)
• People Power
• Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre
• Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood
• Neo Democrats

In the previous sessions of the Legislative Council

• 123 Democratic Alliance
• Citizens Party
• Meeting Point (one of the predecessors of the Democratic Party)
• United Democrats of Hong Kong (one of the predecessors of the Democratic Party)
• The Frontier

See also

• Pro-Beijing camp
• The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China
• List of political parties and political groups in Hong Kong
• Civil Human Rights Front