1998 Hong Kong legislative election

1998 Hong Kong legislative election

← 1996 (Provisional) 24 May 1998 2000 →

All 60 seats to the Legislative Council
31 seats needed for a majority
Registered2,795,371 (GC)
Turnout1,489,705 (53.29%)
  First party Second party Third party
  Martin Lee Allen Lee Tsang Yok-sing
Leader Martin Lee Allen Lee Tsang Yok-sing
Party Democratic Liberal DAB
Alliance Pro-democracy Pro-Beijing Pro-Beijing
Leader's seat Hong Kong Island New Territories East
(defeated)
Kowloon West
Last election 19 seats, 42.26% 10 seats, 1.64% 6 seats, 15.66%
Seats won 13 10 9
Popular vote 634,635 50,335 373,428
Percentage 42.87% 3.40% 25.23%
Swing Increase0.61pp Increase1.76pp Increase9.57pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
  Emily Lau Christine Loh
Leader Ambrose Lau Emily Lau Christine Loh
Party HKPA Frontier Citizens
Alliance Pro-Beijing Pro-democracy Pro-democracy
Leader's seat Election Committee New Territories East Hong Kong Island
Last election 1 seat, 2.85% Did not contest Did not contest
Seats won 5 3 1
Popular vote Did not run in GCs 148,507 41,633
Percentage N/A 10.03% 2.81%
Swing N/A New party New party

Elected candidates by each constituency

Party control before election

Pro-Beijing camp

Party control after election

Pro-Beijing camp

The 1998 Hong Kong Legislative Council election was held on 24 May 1998 for members of the 1st Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in 1997. Replacing the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) strictly controlled by the Beijing government and boycotted by the pro-democracy camp, the elections returned 20 members from directly elected geographical constituencies, 10 seats from the Election Committee constituency and 30 members from functional constituencies, of which 10 were uncontested.

Taking the advantage of the proportional representation system installed by Beijing, the pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), the weaker side compared to the more developed pro-democratic party, the Democratic Party recorded a clearer increase in the number of seats in the election.[1]

The Democratic Party returned to the Legislative Council as the largest party with 13 seats, while the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, a pro-democratic party joined. The Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council lost all its seats.

  1. ^ Kwong, Bruce Kam-kwan (2009). Patron-Client Politics and Elections in Hong Kong. Routledge. p. 79.