New People's Party (Hong Kong)

New People's Party
新民黨
Chairperson Regina Ip
Deputy Chairpersons Pun Kwok-shan
Eunice Yung
Lai Tung-kwok
Founded 9 January 2011 (2011-01-09)
Headquarters Flats D-F, 11/F China
Overseas Building,
139 Hennessy
Road, Wan Chai,
Hong Kong
Youth wing New People's Party
Youth Committee
Membership (2015) Increase ~700[1]
Ideology Conservatism (HK)
Political position Centre-right[2]
Regional affiliation Pro-Beijing camp
Colours          Blue and red
Executive Council
1 / 33
Legislative Council
2 / 70
District Councils
19 / 458
NPC (HK deputies)
0 / 36
CPPCC (HK members)
1 / 124
Website
www.npp.org.hk
New People's Party
Traditional Chinese 新民黨
Politics and government
of Hong Kong
Foreign relations
Related topics
Hong Kong portal

The New People's Party (Chinese: 新民黨; abbreviated to NPP) is a pro-Beijing conservative political party in Hong Kong. It was established by Regina Ip on 9 January 2011 who is currently the chairperson. Since Ip has strongly indicated her interest in becoming Chief Executive of Hong Kong, it has been suggested that the party is primarily a vehicle for that goal.[3] The NPP absorbed a regional political group Civil Force and expanded its district network in 2014. After the 2016 Legislative Council election, it currently holds two seats in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and 19 seats in the District Councils.

Party beliefs

The party positions itself with the pro-Beijing camp, counting the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the pro-Beijing flagship party as a "partner". But Ip has said that it targets the "middle-class", rather than the "grass-roots".[3] Its electorate base also largely comes from the civil service, especially retired officials from the disciplined services, due to Ip's background. The party's stated platform includes universal suffrage, economic diversification[4] and the reduction in the wealth gap.[5]

History

Early years

The leading figure of the New People's Party is Regina Ip, who was the then Secretary for Security and the incumbent member of the Legislative Council, as well as the chair of the think tank Savantas Policy Institute. She founded the New People's Party on 9 January 2011. Michael Tien, former vice chairman of the Liberal Party and younger brother of former Liberal Party chair James Tien, is the deputy chairman. Another deputy chairman was Louis Shih.[4]

The party intended to field 10 candidates in the district council elections in November 2011.[3] Candidates would include three former senior security service officers in Tony Liu Kit-ming, the soon-to-retire chairman of the Hong Kong Police Inspectors Association; Wat Ki-on, the retired former chairman of the Fire Services Department Ambulancemen's Union; and Tsui Chi-keung, the retired former chairman of the Fire Services Department Staff's General Association.[6] It won four seats in total as a result.

Regina Ip announced her interest in running for the Chief Executive in the 2012 election, but failed to secure enough nominations to enter the race. She turned to endorse Leung Chun-ying, winner of the election. In September, Both chair Regina Ip and deputy chair Michael Tien were elected to the Legislative Council in the LegCo elections. Regina Ip was subsequently appointed by Leung Chun-ying to the Executive Council in October 2012.

Alliance with Civil Force

The party expanded the network in the New Territories East by forming a political alliance with the Civil Force in February 2014. Civil Force leader Pun Kwok-shan was appointed Vice-Chairman of the New People's Party.[7] With 17 Civil Force District Councillors and 2 independents joined the New People's Party, the party's seat in the District Councils jumped from 12 to 31.[8]

In the 2015 District Council election, the NPP and Civil Force won 25 seats, while its seats in Tai Hang and Tai Koo Shing East in Hong Kong Island where Ip's base was taken by pro-democrats. Civil Force's base in Sha Tin was also lost to the pro-democrats with five veterans defeated by new faces.

The NPP scored a victory in the 2016 Legislative Council election by taking three seats in the geographical constituencies and doubled their vote share from 3.76 to 7.73 per cent. Incumbents Regina Ip and Michael Tien both received large vote share in Hong Kong Island and the New Territories West respectively with new face Eunice Yung first elected in the New Territories East despite the allegation of her being backed by the Liaison Office.

2017 Chief Executive election and Michael Tien departure

In December 2016, the party endorsed Regina Ip's second bid in the 2017 Chief Executive election.[9] Due to the lobbying by the Liaison Office for former Chief Secretary Carrie Lam and pro-democrats' aim to send former Financial Secretary John Tsang and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing into the race, Ip was squeezed out from canvassing a minimum number of 150 nominations in the 1,194-member Election Committee to enter the race for the second time.[10] After the election, Ip said that the party may reposition itself to become less pro-establishment.[11]

Michael Tien, the party deputy chairman, complained the election had "lost its shape" due to the increasing interference of "an invisible hand", referring to the Liaison Office. Tien inclined his support for John Tsang, although Ip endorsed Carrie Lam on the last day before the election.[12][13] Tien eventually quit the party on 10 April with six District Councillors, citing the party's overly close tie with Beijing was one of the reasons of his departure. The numbers of Legislative Council seats dropped to two and District Councils to 19 as a result.[14]

The party nominated Southern District Councillor Judy Chan to represent in the 2018 Legislative Council Hong Kong Island by-election running against independent democrat Au Nok-hin for the seat left vacant by the oath-taking controversy which resulted in the disqualification of six legislators. The party combined forces with the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) to form a united front against the pro-democrats. As a result, Chan was narrowly defeated in the election by only three per cent of margin by receiving more than 127,000 votes.[15]

Performance in elections

Chief Executive elections

Election Candidate No. of votes % of votes
2012 Regina Ip Not nominated
2017 Regina Ip Not nominated

Legislative Council elections

Election Number of
popular votes		 % of
popular votes		 GC
seats		 FC
seats		 Total seats +/− Position
2012 68,097Steady 3.76Steady 2 0
2 / 70
 1Increase 9thIncrease
2016 167,589Increase 7.73Increase 3 0
3 / 70
 1Increase 7thIncrease

District Council elections

Election Number of
popular votes		 % of
popular votes		 Total
elected seats		 +/−
2011 15,568Steady 1.32Steady
4 / 412
 3Increase
2015 75,793Increase 5.24Increase
26 / 431
 1Decrease

Representatives

Executive Council

Legislative Council

ConstituencyMember
Hong Kong IslandRegina Ip
New Territories EastYung Hoi-yan

District Councils

DistrictConstituencyMember
Wan Chai Tin Hau Joey Lee Man-lung
Southern South Horizons West Judy Kapui Chan
Tuen Mun Sam Shing So Shiu-shing
Fu Sun Kam Man-fung
Yuen Long Yuen Lung Wilson Wong Wai-shun
Chung Pak Wong Cheuk-kin
Sai Kung Tsui Lam Lanny Tam
Po Lam Alfred Au Ning-fat
Tak Ming Wan Yuet-cheung
Sha Tin Lek Yuen Michael Wong Yue-hon
City One Wong Ka-wing
Yue Shing Victor Leung Ka-fai
Hin Ka Lam Chung-yan
Lower Shing Mun Tong Hok-leung
Wan Shing Ho Hau-cheung
Tin Sum Pun Kwok-shan
Yu Yan Yiu Ka-chun
Kwong Yuen Chan Man-kuen
Islands Tung Chung North Sammi Fu Hiu-lam

References

  1. ↑ "新民黨 第五次週年會員大會 通過選出四十三位中央委員" (PDF). New People's Party. 14 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "葉 太 ： 新 民 黨 走 中 間 偏 右 路 綫". Sing Tao Daily. 17 December 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 Regina Ip hints at run for top job, South China Morning Post, 31 Jan 2011
  4. 1 2 Yan, Cathy (8 January 2011). "Hong Kong's Ip Launches Political Party". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 17 January 2011. Joining Ms Ip as deputy chairmen are former Liberal Party member Michael Tien and Louis Shih, former chairman of the pro-democracy organization SynergyNet.
  5. ↑ http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=106856&sid=30858941&con_type=1&d_str=20110110&fc=10 The Standard accessed 17 January 2011
  6. ↑ High-profile officers join Regina Ip's party, South China Morning Post, Phyllis Tsang, 8 Feb 2011
  7. ↑ 新民黨宣布與公民力量結成聯盟. Radio Television Hong Kong (in Chinese). 12 February 2014.
  8. ↑ 新民黨與公民力量結盟葉劉淑儀否認吞併. Metro Radio (in Chinese). 12 February 2014.
  9. ↑ "Regina Ip declares her entry into leadership race with pledge to enact controversial Article 23". South China Morning Post. 15 December 2016.
  10. ↑ "Regina Ip drops out of Hong Kong chief executive race". South China Morning Post. 1 March 2017.
  11. ↑ "新民黨選戰後重新定位　葉劉指或「冇咁建制」". Ming Pao. 3 March 2017.
  12. ↑ "Carrie Lam aims to 'reignite' Hong Kong as she officially announces candidacy for top job". South China Moring Post. 16 January 2017.
  13. ↑ "'Don't ask us to quit': Chief executive hopeful Regina Ip stands firm on candidacy in overcrowded field". South China Morning Post. 17 January 2017.
  14. ↑ "【新民黨分裂】直播田北辰宣佈退黨：因了解而分開". Apple Daily. 14 November 2016.
  15. ↑ "Hong Kong democrats to rely on legal appeals after failing to win back Legco veto foothold". South China Morning Post. 12 March 2018.

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