Elections The first Legislative Council (LegCo) election of the HKSAR on May 24, 1998, was the first multi-party election held in a region of the People's Republic of China. It made history in a number of other ways. The polls attracted a record 166 candidates representing all political persuasions, groups and parties and there were a record 2.8 million registered voters. Despite torrential rain-and chest-deep floodwaters near some polling stations - a record 1.49 million people, or 53.3% of registered voters, cast their ballots in the five geographical constituencies. The number of voters was 62% higher than in the 1995 polls when 920 567 people (35.8% turnout) voted and 100% higher than the 1991 polls, when 750 467 people (39.1% turnout) voted. Turnout rate for the 28 functional constituencies was 63.5% (from 140 000 registered voters) while in the Election Committee, 790 of the 800 members (98.75%) cast their ballots. The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, described the election as an historic moment and a tremendous achievement which demonstrated Hong Kong people's determination and confidence in 'One Country, Two Systems' and 'Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy'. He said the elections were a very important first step in the evolution of Hong Kong's democratic institution and 'an excellent beginning of a process which we are determined to move forward with'. The election campaign was lively, colourful and hotly contested - as would be expected in Hong Kong. The major issues centred on livelihood matters - the economy, unemployment and job creation, housing and welfare. Maintaining Hong Kong's competitiveness and the momentum of democratic development were issues regularly raised by candidates and political parties. All 60 members of the LegCo were returned by elections: 20 from Geographical Constituencies (GC) by universal suffrage; 30 from Functional Constituencies (FC) representing various sectors of the community which are substantial and important to the ongoing development of Hong Kong; 10 from an Election Committee (EC), composed of 800 members representing a wide cross-section of the Hong Kong community. The majority of the 800 were elected in open and fair elections on April 2, 1998. After the elections, the Legislative Council will have the following members: Democratic Party 13 (9GC, 4FC) Liberal Party 10 (9FC, 1FC) Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) 10 (5GC,3FC, 2EC) Hong Kong Progressive Alliance 5 (2FC, 3EC) The Frontier 4 (4GC) The Citizens Party 1 (1GC) Independents/Non-affiliated 17 (1GC, 12FC, 4EC) The geographical constituency results demonstrated that the proportional representation voting system used - the List Voting System operating under the Largest Remainder Formula - was fair and accurately reflected voter preference. The results disproved claims before the election that the system was designed to disadvantage the democratic camp. The Democratic Party received 43% of the votes and won 45% of the GC seats; the DAB won 25% of the vote and 25% of the GC seats; The Frontier got 12% of the votes and 20% of the GC seats, while the Citizens Party got 2.6% of the vote and 5% of the GC seats. The polls were the first step towards the election of all LegCo members by full universal suffrage as envisaged in the Basic Law. The next steps will be the Legislative Council elections in 2000 and 2004, when the number of Geographical Constituency seats will increase to 24 and 30 respectively, due to the phasing out of the Election Committee. After 2007, the Basic Law provides a mechanism for Hong Kong people to decide how best to achieve the ultimate aim of electing all LegCo members by universal suffrage. Last updated: June 1998