Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood

Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood 香港民主民生協進會
Abbreviation	ADPL
Chairman	Sze Tak-loy (acting)
Vice-Chairmen	Tam Kwok-kiu Sze Tak-loy
Founded	26 October 1986
Headquarters	Rm. 1104, Sunbeam Commercial Bldg., 469–471 Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Ideology	Liberalism[1] Social democracy Social liberalism
Political position	Centre-left
Regional affiliation	Pro-democracy camp
Colours	Yellow and green
Legislative Council	0 / 70
District Councils	18 / 458
Website
adpl.org.hk
Politics of Hong Kong Political parties Elections

Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood
Traditional Chinese	香港民主民生協進會
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Hoeng^1 gong^2 Man^4 zyu^2 Man^4 sang^1 Hip^3 Zeon^3 Wui^6*2 Yale Romanization Hēung góng Màhn jyú Màhn sāng Hip Jeun Wuih
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	民協
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Man^4 hip^3 Yale Romanization Màhn hip

The Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (Chinese: 香港民主民生協進會, ADPL) is a Hong Kong pro-democracy liberal political party catering to grassroots interest with a strong basis in Sham Shui Po. Established on 26 October 1986, it was one of the three major pro-democracy groups along with the Meeting Point and the Hong Kong Affairs Society in the 1980s.

The ADPL survived through the great unification of the pro-democracy camp in the 1991 and became the only pro-democracy party to sit in the Beijing-controlled Provisional Legislative Council in 1997. It was ousted for the first time in the 1998 Legislative Council election. Its veteran former chairman Frederick Fung was the only legislator for the ADPL until he was defeated in the 2016 Legislative Council election in which the party was ousted from the legislature for the second time. It currently holds 18 seats in the District Councils, most of them are in Sham Shui Po.

Stances

In general, the ADPL has stated that its aims are to:^[2]

• Strive for a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty and to implement the "one country, two systems" principle;
• Advocate democracy, fight for full implementation of direct elections for the Legislative Council, safeguard basic human rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people and preserve Hong Kong's judicial independence;
• Maintain Hong Kong's prosperity and stability and promote economic development in Hong Kong; and
• Distribute social resources fairly, improving the quality of life of the less well-off.

Within the pro-democracy camp, the ADPL is usually considered more moderate. Besides demanding universal suffrage, it places a greater emphasis on livelihood issues and has supported an increase in profits and salaries taxes while opposing sales tax, a stance more favourable to lower income groups. The party also called for an increase in education and coverage of medical expenses.

History

Founding

The ADPL was founded on 26 October 1986 as a political organisation by a group of incumbent Urban Councillors, District Board members, members from mainly four grassroots organisations and professionals, the Association for Democracy and Justice, the Society for Social Research, the New Hong Kong Society, the Hong Kong People's Council on Public Housing Policy, the Septentrio Academy and the Sham Shui Po Residents Livelihood Concern Group. The founding chairman was Ding Lik-kiu and vice-chairmen were Frederick Fung Kin-kee and Lee Wing-tat.

Late colonial period

Initially, the ADPL engaged in the electoral reform debate, advocating direct election of the legislature in 1988. It supported the liberal proposals put forward by the Group of 190 coalition. The ADPL was one of the three major pro-democracy groups and performed fairly well in the local and municipal elections the 1980s with its strategic allies the Meeting Point and the Hong Kong Affairs Society. At its peak, it had 140 members, 28 District Board members, one Legislative Councillor, 5 municipal councillors.

In 1990, some members of the ADPL (such as Lee Wing-tat and Albert Chan Wai-yip) joined the United Democrats of Hong Kong, which later became the Democratic Party. The ADPL continued to keep its own identity, arguing that it represented grassroots interests whereas the United Democrats were more focused on the middle class.^[3] However, as many members joined the new party, the ADPL's membership dropped significantly to only 70 members, 15 District Board members and 2 municipal councillors.

As the ADPL chairman Frederick Fung was elected to the Legislative Council in the 1991 direct election and other members were elected to municipal councils, the ADPL regained its stability and matured from a political organisation to a political party in 1992.^[4] It won one seat in the first direct election of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) in 1991 when Fung was elected. In the 1995 election, the party won four seats. At the time, due to near-parity of representation between the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps in Legco, the stance of the moderate ADPL was influential and often pivotal on controversial issues.

On the issue of the establishment of the Provisional Legislative Council, the ADPL initially opposed but then agreed to join the interim body. This led to a group of 16 members leaving to form the Social Democratic Front.^[5] ADPL became the only pro-democracy party in the legislature immediately after the establishment of the HKSAR, keeping four members in the interim body. ADPL members also served on the Preparatory Committee for the establishment of the HKSAR.

Since 1997

The ADPL lost all its seats in the 1998 Legco election. In the 2000 election, long-time chairman Frederick Fung recovered his directly elected seat in Legco for the ADPL.

At the district level, ADPL traditionally enjoyed a concentration of support in the Sham Shui Po District, with another base in Tuen Mun District, as well as numerous seats across other district councils. The party suffered a defeat in the 2007 District Council election which led to Fung's resignation and he was replaced by Bruce Liu Sing-lee.

The ADPL supported the controversial electoral reform package which created five seats in the District Council (Second) functional constituencies which are nominated by District Councillors and elected by all registered voters. In a pan-democrat primary, Fung contested candidacy for the 2012 Chief Executive election but was defeated by the Democratic Party's Albert Ho. He was subsequently re-elected in the new constituency in the 2012 Legco election. Tam Kwok-kiu, however, failed to succeed Fung in the Kowloon West, the ADPL's stronghold, its first loss there since 1998.

In the 2015 District Council election, the ADPL won 18 seats while veteran Frederick Fung lost his seat in Lai Kok to Chan Wing-yan of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU). Former party member Eric Wong Chung-ki also contested the constituency. On 23 January 2016, Rosanda Mok Ka-han, former vice chairman of the party, was elected the first female chairperson in the party's history.

Fung ran in the New Territories West after losing his eligibility to run in District Council (Second) in the 2016 Legislative Council election, while his party colleague Tam Kwok-kiu ran in Kowloon West for the second time. Ho Ka-ming, a new Kowloon City District Councillor represented the ADPL to run in the District Council (Second). Both Fung and Tam lost in the election with Ho withdrew from the campaign in order to boost other pro-democrat candidates' chance to win. As a result, the ADPL was ousted from the legislature for the second time since 1998.

Electoral performance

Legislative Council elections

Election	Number of popular votes	% of popular votes	GC seats	FC seats	EC seats	Total seats	+/−	Position
1991	60,770	4.44	1	0	–	1 / 60	0	5th
1995	87,072	9.50	2	1	1	4 / 60	3	4th
1998	59,034	3.99	0	0	0	0 / 60	–	–
2000	62,717	4.75	1	0	1	1 / 60	1	7th
2004	74,671	4.18	1	0		1 / 60	0	6th
2008	42,211	2.79	1	0		1 / 60	0	7th
2012	30,634	1.69	0	1		1 / 70	0	10th
2016	33,255	1.53	0	0		0 / 70	1	–

Note: Each voter got two votes in the 1991 Election.

Municipal elections

Election	Number of popular votes	% of popular votes	UrbCo seats	RegCo seats	Total elected seats
1989	21,243	9.99	2 / 15	2 / 12	4 / 27
1991	21,033	5.37	2 / 15	0 / 12	2 / 27
1995	38,918	6.98	5 / 32	3 / 27	8 / 59

District Council elections

Election	Number of popular votes	% of popular votes	Total elected seats	+/−
1988	65,338	10.25	27 / 264	13
1991	27,979	5.26	15 / 272	6
1994	47,740	6.95	29 / 346	14
1999	38,119	4.70	19 / 390	1
2003	53,264	5.07	25 / 400	5
2007	52,386	4.60	17 / 405	8
2011	45,453	3.85	15 / 412	1
2015	55,275	3.82	18 / 431	2

Leadership

Chairpersons

• Ding Lik-kiu, 1986–89
• Frederick Fung, 1989–2007
  • Bruce Liu, acting 2007–08
• Bruce Liu, 2008–16
• Rosanda Mok, 2016
  • Sze Tak-loy, acting 2016–present

Vice Chairpersons

• Frederick Fung, 1986–89
• Lee Wing-tat, 1986–89
• Law Cheung-kwok, 1989–98
• Leung Kwong-cheong, 1989–96
• Bruce Liu, 1906–2007
• Yim Tin-sang, 1998–2008
• Tam Kwok-kiu, 2008–present
• Rosanda Mok, 2008–13
• Wong Chi-yung, 2013–14
• Pius Yum, 2014–16
• Sze Tak-loy, 2016

References

1. Davies, Stephen; Roberts, Elfed (1990). Political Dictionary for Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Macmillan Publishers (HK) Ltd.
2. 基本資料. Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (in Chinese).
3. Allen, Jamie (1997). Seeing Red: China's Uncompromising Takeover of Hong Kong. Taylor & Francis. p. 169. ISBN 9810080832.
4. Chiu, Stephen Wing Kai; Lui, Tai Lok (2000). The Dynamics of Social Movements in Hong Kong: Real and Financial Linkages and the Prospects for Currency Union. Hong Kong University Press. p. 42.
5. Allen, Jamie (1997). Seeing Red: China's Uncompromising Takeover of Hong Kong. Taylor & Francis. p. 176.

External links

• Web site of ADPL (Chinese)
• Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood on Facebook
• Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood on Twitter
• Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood's channel on YouTube