NDI delegation visits Hong Kong in August 2008 and Promise of Democratization Report 13

From 13 - 17 August 2008, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) held meetings in Hong Kong to assess the political environment leading up to and around the September 7 Legislative Council (LegCo) elections, and to gauge the environment following the announcement of the timetable for implementing universal suffrage.

NDI’s team included:

·         Christopher Pyne, Member of Parliament for Sturt, Australia and Shadow Minister for Justice;

·         Thomas Barry, NDI Deputy Regional Director for Asia programs;

·         Anne Tsai Bennett, NDI Program Manager for Asia;

·         Belinda Winterbourne, NDI Program Manager for Hong Kong;

·         Stephen Tong, NDI Program Officer for Hong Kong.

The team met with current and former government officials, political party leaders, Legislative Council members and candidates, District Councilors, nongovernmental organization representatives, academics, journalists, diplomats and others.

The NDI also collaborated with the Hong Kong Transition Project who arranged for university student volunteers to shadow six Legislative Council candidates from 31 July through election day on 7 September, to informally observe the campaigns and the polls.

Promise of Democratization Report 13

The findings of this delegation were documented in:

·         The Promise of Democratization in Hong Kong: The 2008 Legislative Council Elections. NDI Hong Kong Report #13. 15 October 2008¹.

Promise of Democratization Report 13 cover

Key findings of the team

The key findings of this team were:

The Defining Election Issues

·         The LegCo elections were dominated by “livelihood” issues such as unemployment and the economy, the public’s main concerns in the lead up to September 7, as well as growing dissatisfaction with CE Donald Tsang and his administration.

·         A rise in patriotism leading up to and during the Olympics in August, combined with the SCNPC’s December 2007 issuance of a timetable for universal suffrage, pushing direct elections to no earlier than 2017 for the CE and 2020 for the entire LegCo seemed to remove the call for universal suffrage from being a focus for candidates and the public.

·         Surveys prior to the election showed that bread and butter “livelihood” issues were foremost on voters’ minds.

·         Meanwhile, only 6.5 percent of voters surveyed by the Chinese University said they would focus on universal suffrage² (Page 8).

·         Concerns over inflation, employment, the environment, and town development dominated the political Debate (Pages 8/9).

The Campaigns

NDI conducted a study with the assistance of the Hong Kong Transition Project, in which six university students in Hong Kong shadowed the campaigns of six Legislative Council candidates. The study afforded the opportunity to verify -- on the ground -- campaign techniques employed by candidates, as well as the use of resources, and other factors.

Please see Appendix II for summaries of the students’ observations of the campaigns:

Appendix II - 2008 Legislative Council Elections Case Studies: Student Observations

NDI would like to thank the Hong Kong Transition Project Director Prof. Michael DeGolyer, Cheung Puiki Research Assistant and the six student volunteers and the individual candidates and their campaign teams for their assistance on this project.

The student volunteers observed the following candidates:

·         Tanya Chan, Civic Party, Hong Kong Island;

·         Audrey Eu, Civic Party, Hong Kong Island;

·         Regina Ip, Independent, Hong Kong Island;

·         Alan Leong, Civic Party, Kowloon East;

·         Thomas Yu Kwun Wai, Civic Party, Kowloon East;

·         Fred Li Wah Ming, Democratic Party, Kowloon East;

·         Roy Tam, Independent, Kowloon West.

NDI, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Transition Project and with the assistance of six student volunteers, conducted an observation of the campaigns of six Legislative Council candidates, focused on qualitative aspects of their campaigns.

The study was conducted to help better understand the role of Hong Kong’s political parties in

supporting candidates during election time, including campaign strategies as well as general campaigning techniques.

Prior to observations, the students were briefed on their role as observers and the need to refrain from participating in any electioneering activities to ensure their neutrality.

The observations took place between 31 July 2008 and 7 September 2008. Students were asked to observe activities of the candidate and their aides, including types of campaign literature distributed, the reaction of passers-by, what other campaigning techniques were employed, and the tactics employed by the opponents.  A de-briefing session was held with interested candidates on September 11, 2008.

One student was only able to complete half of the observations, the rest were conducted by the NDI Hong Kong field staff who were part of the election assessment team.

Reference

¹The Promise of Democratization in Hong Kong: The 2008 Legislative Council Elections. NDI Hong Kong Report #13. 15 October 2008 Link to all Promise of Democratization Reports 

²Eva Wu. Suffrage a low priority for voters. South China Morning Post. 15 August 2008.