Heading for the hustings

Political parties get set for the municipal council elections this month

By Alice Tang

The first direct elections for the Urban and Regional Councils on March 5 this year may mean the realization of a "ideal" for Governor Chris Patten.

Yet, they mean much more to the political parties in Hong Kong. Not only do the elections act as touchstone to measure their popularity, but they are also a prelude for the coming elections to the Legislative Council in September.

Mr. Stephen Tang Lung Wai, an election expert, analyzed the situation as such: "In the municipal council elections, the Democratic Party and the pro-China alliance headed by Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, would be the mainstream. "Other political parties are not so influential. Only the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood can be considered a substitute power, because it has established solid power bases in certain districts for a long time," Mr. Tang added.

Right: One of the promotions for candidates is the faai chun distributed at News Year's.

Again, a spotlight is shed on the confrontation over who controls the "mainstream". Despite being considered the head of left-wing groups, the chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, Mr. Tsang Yok Shing, denied fighting with The Democratic Party deliberately.

"We did not fight with them strategically. Indeed, not all of our candidates compete with the Democrats.

"It is unwise to have any imaginary enemy. If there are some, they could be of any party," said Mr. Tsang.

The fiercest battlefield in March will be in Kwun Tong North, where Legislative Councillor Mr. Szeto Wah, a popular democrat who has been singled out by Beijing as a subversive, will be fighting for a seat with the current Legislative and Urban Councillor, Mrs. Elsie Tu. She sides with the Democratic Alliance in the election.

Supporting Mrs. Tu, Mr. Tsang said, "Mrs. Tu has devoted much time and effort in Kwun Tong. Even if her competitor was not Mr. Szeto, we would support her."

However, Mr. Cheung Man Kwong, a democratic Legislative Councillor, viewed it differently. He considered the election a real war.

"We are not surprised at the DAB's support because of Mrs. Tu's changing attitude in the past few years.

"We are treating this election as a battle against all pro-China alliances, if not the Xinhua News Agency," Mr. Cheung added.

Regarding the strategies of different parties, Mr. Leung Kwan Kwok, lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Studies of The City University of Hong Kong, said, "Apparently The Democratic Party puts balanced efforts in different districts. However, Wong Tai Sin and Kwun Tong are increasingly emphasized because they have been recognized as the strongholds for the pro-China groups.

"DAB also wants to test their power in many different districts. In the 1991 District Board elections, the middle-road attitude _ for example, The Liberal Party _ proved to have failed. Therefore, DAB is more confident in putting on the coat of the pro-China alliance in different districts.

"However, ADPL retains the strategy of stressing Sham Shui Po because it has established a very strong support base there. Yet, in the nomination list, it seems that it is trying to insert some influences in Kwai Ching, for it has three nominees there."

Nevertheless, Miss Lee Yiu Kwan, chief administrative secretary of Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, denied focusing on only two districts. She said that Association had nominated nine party members in six different districts.

"Most of our candidates have worked in their districts for more than five years. Many of them are current District Board members or Urban Councillors.

"We hope to gain more support from all six districts, not just one or two."

As for the strategies of the Liberal Party, Mr. Leung of the City University said, "The Liberal Party had a fiasco in the District Board elections last year. This was a result of having too many candidates. Therefore, in the municipal council elections, quality, rather than quantity, will be stressed."

Mrs. Alice Pong Tso Shing Yuk, the election spokesperson of the Liberal Party, confirmed Mr. Leung's view.

"In the District Board elections last year, the 80 candidates made resource allocation a difficult task. We learnt the lesson and hope to centralize the party's resources in the municipal council elections," said Mrs. Pong.

This year, the Liberal Party only nominates three members to the election. Apart from its party's strategy, the withdrawal of several party members also attributed to such low participation rate.

"Some candidates left the party before the election on their own personal will. We were quite disappointed. However, their actions united the remaining members and strengthened our loyalty to the party," Mrs. Pong said.

Loyalty to the Liberal Party resulted in financial support to the tune of $100,000 for each candidate in the March elections. Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong also subsidizes candidates by granting $30,000 and lending another $30,000 to each candidate. On the other hand, The Democratic Party can only afford a loan of $30,000 to each nominee.

Although the political parties adopt different strategies, all of them do not regard the municipal council elections as the ultimate goal, according to Mr. Stephen Tang.

"The political role for the Urban and Regional Councils is declining as 1997 approaches. All the parties are interested in testing their popularity for the September Legco elections rather than the seats in municipal councils.

"From the election, the Democrats hope to retain their popularity through mobilization of supporters in different districts.

"For the pro-China alliance, the elections act as a testing ground for support after Hong Kong peoples' sentiment for the June Fourth Incident has eventually faded out," Mr. Tang added.

Mr. Cheung of the Democratic Party said, "The March elections are the prelude for the September elections. The former can give us experience on resource allocation and strategy."

Both Democratic Alliance and Association for Democracy believe the March elections are useful in preparing the September election. Mr. Tsang of Democratic Alliance said, "Through the elections, we hope to gain more support from local residents. We will be more confident in placing Legco candidates in the districts where we get good results in the March elections."

Knowing the importance of the March election's results, both "mainstream" parties, however, refused to make predictions before the rac

Mr. Tsang said, "It is very difficult to predict. As the chairman of the party, I can only tell you that we only nominate those who have the chance to win. Perhaps we can earn all the seats.

"Yet, we know that our competitors from different parties have their strengths," Mr. Tsang added.

The Democratic Party's Mr. Cheung said, "Any prediction before the race may affect the troop's morale. Why don't we wait until March 5?"

Meanwhile, The Liberal Party and the Alliance for Democracy are rather optimistic about the outcome.

Said Mrs. Pong of the Liberal Party: "We place high expectation on our three aspirants and target at winning all the three seats."

Miss Lee of the Association for Democracy said, "Among our nine candidates, we are confident in having seven to eight winners."

City University's Mr. Leung predicted, "The voters in Hong Kong are not mature enough to vote for the candidates' abilities. On the contrary, the voters will depend heavily on the candidates' political affiliations and their popularity. Since the political affiliation of party members is clearer to the voters, independent candidates are less likely to gain votes."

The increasing support to the pro-China alliance and the plummeting support for the Democrats would be another interesting phenomenon in the March elections, according to Mr. Leung.

Mr. Stephen Tang agreed: "The pro-China alliance will win more votes than in the 1991 election. Moreover, the vote-differentials between the winning and losing candidates will be very small. Some districts may have vote differentials of less than 10 percent.

"More voters are expected to cast their votes. In the 1991 election, the turnout rate was more than 20 percent. In the coming one, even if the turnout rate is similar, there will be more votes because there are more eligible voters for this election."