Village Representative Elections in Hong Kong's Electoral System

Historically, the indigenous inhabitants of Hong Kong's New Territories would elect village representatives within their own villages, and these elections were often monopolized by male indigenous inhabitants. However, with the changes in Hong Kong society and the increase in population movement between the rural areas of the New Territories and the urban areas, the residents of the villages in the New Territories may not necessarily be indigenous inhabitants only. on December 22, 2000, the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong unanimously ruled that the village election systems of the then Shek Wu Tong Village and Po Toi O were in breach of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance and the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, thus confirming that non-indigenous inhabitants could participate in the election of Village Representatives. On the other hand, the Hong Kong Government is obliged to protect "the lawful traditional rights and interests of the indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories" under Article 40 of the Hong Kong Basic Law. The Court of Final Appeal has held that rights and interests only include small house benefits, exemption of certain properties from payment of land tax and rates, etc., but are not the same as political rights. This led to the reform of the method of election of village representatives, which was widely disputed in Hong Kong and opposed by some indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories.

The verdict came after more than three years of discussion by the government, when the Village Representative Election Ordinance was finally passed in February 2003 to reform the village election system. At present, VRs are divided into two groups, one for "Indigenous Inhabitant Representatives" and the other for "Resident Representatives"; this is commonly known as the "dual representation system", and elections for the two groups are held separately. The two VRs represent the views of the residents on village affairs, while the Indigenous Inhabitant Representatives are additionally responsible for all matters relating to the legitimate traditional rights and interests of the indigenous inhabitants and their traditional way of life. The term of office of the Village Representatives is four years and the current term of office of the Village Representatives runs from October 1, 2003 to March 31, 2007.

To vote for an Indigenous Peoples' Representative, a voter must be at least 18 years of age and be an indigenous inhabitant of the village or the spouse of such an indigenous inhabitant. An original resident is defined as a person who was a resident of the Village as of 1898 or a descendant of an original resident on the paternal side of the family. To vote in the Resident Representative election, a voter needs to be a permanent resident of Hong Kong who has reached the age of 18 and has resided in the Village for three consecutive years.

Candidates for the election of Representatives need to be Hong Kong permanent residents aged 21 or above, nominated by five registered voters in their respective constituencies, and themselves registered as voters in their respective constituencies. Candidates for Indigenous Inhabitant Representatives are required to be indigenous inhabitants, while candidates for Resident Representatives are required to have resided in the village for six consecutive years.

The first "dual-village head system" village representative election was held in July and August 2003, and some polling stations showed scenes of suspected triad "horse-racing" (gathering people and showing strength to the other side), as reported by Ming Pao. Ming Pao reported that on August 17th, there were more than a hundred people clamoring outside the polling station in Long Ping Shan, cursing the villagers who voted, and the Anti-Triad Squad of the Hong Kong Police Force arrested 27 people on charges of illegal assembly. After learning about this, candidate TANG Chin-peng asked the police "why they arrested his electioneering team". Then-Director of Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping said the incident was a "touch-up" and that otherwise it "could not be called a village election".

In the first election of village representatives under the "dual-headman system", the turnout was 72.91 percent for the original residents' representatives and 74.61 percent for the residents' representatives. The new Village Representative elections will be held on Saturday and Sunday, January 6 to February 4, 2007, and nominations are now being accepted (until December 6, 2006) for candidates.