DAB in show of force

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong is once again the dominant party in the district councils after winning 109 seats - or 41 percent - of the 264 elected seats.

DAB fielded 121 candidates and won 109 seats comprising 68 selected through indirect elections in the District Committees constituencies and 41 directly elected seats out of 44 geographical constituencies.

Only Chan Ka-man from Kwun Tong Southeast, Lam Ho-wai from Southern District Southeast and Chuk Hing-toi from Sha Tin South lost in the geographical constituency races.

DAB chairman Gary Chan Hak-kan said the election results were well within his expectations. He added that his party will cooperate with other parties or independents in the future.

"Solely relying on the DAB is not sufficient to achieve perfect community work. Only cooperation across parties will be able to reflect people's voices," he said.

Coming in second was the Federation of Trade Unions, with 27 of its 46 candidates elected. Eighteen of them ran in the geographical constituencies.

Next were the New People's Party with 15 seats and Business and Professionals Alliance with 12.

New People's Party chair Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, who is also the Executive Council convener, said she was "very satisfied" with the result.

"New People's Party only had one district councillor, but we now have 15, which is a 1,500 percent growth," Ip said, whose party lost heavily in 2019.

"We will set up offices to offer more activities to get in touch with citizens, and learn from other parties."

The candidate who got the most votes was DAB's Lo Yuen-ting, with 22,775 in Tsing Yi constituency. He was reelected into the Kwai Tsing district council.

"The victory should be dedicated to my hardworking team and the support of citizens. I will be coordinating with appointed district councillors and those elected through the indirect elections," Lo said.

Yiu Ming from Wu Tip Shan of North district council claimed the most votes, snatching 20,053, twice as much as the sum of all other candidates in his constituency.

"The results show that residents in North district recognizes DAB's work, and I will rationally discuss politics in the district council and improve the community," Yiu said.

But TVB host Adrianna Sung Chih-ling from the Liberal Party lost in the Wan Chai constituency.

"I did not lose in the election, but was only 'temporarily unable to win,' " Sung said.

She lost to DAB's Nicholas Muk Ka-chun and independent Peggy Lee Pik-yee.

Lee said: "The election result is a report card of my 18-year community work. I am very happy to get reelected. I do not have a party and election machine to back me up, but I still managed to win, showing that the new electoral system caters to diversification."

Nontraditional pro-establishment parties were unable to grab a seat in the revamped district council elections.

Only New Prospect of Hong Kong - mainly mainlanders living in the city - was able to snatch one out of 88 geographical constituency seats.

Yankie Chan Yin-kwan was able to win that one seat in Tin Shui Wai South and Ping Ha constituency, by a margin of less than 300 votes.

It came as the Roundtable, chaired by lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun, centrist think tank Path of Democracy, convened by executive councillor Ronny Tong Ka-wah, and Bauhinia Party met their waterloo on Sunday.

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com