Legal (constituency)

Summary

The Legal functional constituency (Chinese: 法律界功能界別) is a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It was the one of the first 12 original functional constituency seats created for the first ever Legislative Council election in 1985.

Legal
法律界
Functional constituency
for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Country Hong Kong
Electorate7,549 (2021)[1]
Current constituency
Created1985
Number of membersOne
Member(s)Ambrose Lam (Nonpartisan)

As of 2021, there were 7,549 registered voters, including the members of the Law Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Bar Association, and the officers in the government's judicial departments. It is one of the few strongholds of the pro-democracy camp in functional constituencies, having been held by pro-democrats since 1995, was held by Civic Party's Dennis Kwok until he was disqualified from his office in 2020.[2] Following electoral overhaul, the seat was controlled by the Beijing loyalist for the first time.

Composition edit

The Legal functional constituency is composed of—[3]

  • members of The Law Society of Hong Kong entitled to vote at general meetings of the Society; and
  • members of the Hong Kong Bar Association entitled to vote at general meetings of the Association; and
  • legal officers within the meaning of the Legal Officers Ordinance (Cap. 87); and
  • persons appointed under section 3 of the Legal Aid Ordinance (Cap. 91; and
  • persons deemed to be legal officers for the purpose of the Legal Officers Ordinance (Cap. 87) by section 75(3) of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) or section 3(3) of the Director of Intellectual Property (Establishment) Ordinance (Cap. 412); and
  • the Legal Adviser of the Legislative Council Secretariat and his or her assistants who are in the full-time employment of The Legislative Council Commission and are barristers or solicitors as defined in the Legal Practitioners Ordinance (Cap. 159).

Return members edit

Election Member Party
1985 Martin Lee Independent
1988
1991 Simon Ip Independent
1995 Margaret Ng Independent
Not represented in the PLC (1997–1998)
1998 Margaret Ng Independent
2000
2004 IndependentCivic
2008 Civic
2012 Dennis Kwok Civic
2016
2021 Ambrose Lam Nonpartisan

Electoral results edit

2020s edit

2021 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nonpartisan Ambrose Lam San-keung 1,637 70.84
Nonpartisan Chen Xiaofeng 674 29.16
Majority 963 41.68
Total valid votes 2,311 100.00
Rejected ballots 225
Turnout 2,536 33.59
Registered electors 7,549
Nonpartisan gain from Civic Swing

2010s edit

[4]
2016 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Civic Dennis Kwok Wing-hang 3,405 69.48 +13.28
Independent Catherine Mun Lee-ming 1,496 30.52
Majority 1,909 38.96 +26.61
Total valid votes 4,901 100.00
Rejected ballots 129
Turnout 5,030 74.27 +2.84
Registered electors 6,773
Civic hold Swing
[5]
2012 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Civic Dennis Kwok Wing-hang 2,528 56.20 –9.54
Independent Albert Wong Kwai-huen 1,970 43.85
Majority 558 12.35
Total valid votes 4,498 100.00
Rejected ballots 132
Turnout 4,630 71.43
Registered electors 6,482
Civic hold Swing

2000s edit

[6]
2008 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Civic Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee 2,468 65.74 −8.99
Independent Junius Ho Kwan-yiu 1,286 34.26
Majority 182 6.60
Total valid votes 3,745 100.00
Rejected ballots 127
Turnout 3,872 63.36
Registered electors 6,111
Civic hold Swing
[7]
2004 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent (A45CG) Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee 2,597 74.73 +13.98
Independent Kwong Ka-yin 598 17.21
Independent Tong Kei-yuk 280 8.06
Majority 1,999 57.52
Total valid votes 3,475 100.00
Rejected ballots 127
Turnout 3,666 72.26
Registered electors 5,073
Independent hold Swing
[8]
2000 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee 1,520 60.75 −15.84
Independent Anthony Chow Wing-kin 982 39.25
Majority 538 21.50
Total valid votes 2,502 100.00
Rejected ballots 37
Turnout 2,539 61.15
Registered electors 4,152
Independent hold Swing

1990s edit

[8]
1998 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee 1,741 76.59 +22.07
Independent Siu Wing-yee 394 17.33
Independent Chong Wing-charn 138 6.07
Majority 1,347 59.26
Total valid votes 2,273 100.00
Rejected ballots 47
Turnout 2,320 65.56
Registered electors 3,539
Independent hold Swing
1995 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee 723 54.52
Independent Ip Tim-yeung 444 33.48
Independent Lee Wai-ip 159 12.00
Majority 279 21.04
Total valid votes 1,326 100.00
Rejected ballots 33
Turnout 1,359 69.98
Registered electors 1,942
Independent gain from Independent Swing
1991 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Ip Sik-on 542 77.43
Independent Man Yit-loi 158 22.57
Majority 384 54.86
Total valid votes 700 100.00
Rejected ballots 14
Turnout 714 57.58
Registered electors 1,240
Independent gain from Independent Swing

1980s edit

1988 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nonpartisan Martin Lee Chu-ming Unopposed
Nonpartisan hold Swing
1985 Legislative Council election: Legal
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nonpartisan Martin Lee Chu-ming 488 57.89
Nonpartisan Henry Denis Litton 312 37.01
Civic Edmund Chow Wai-hung 43 5.10
Majority 176 20.88
Total valid votes 843 100.00
Nonpartisan win (new seat)

References edit

  1. ^ "Voter Registration Statistics : Functional Constituency". Voter Registration.
  2. ^ "Hong Kong's pro-democracy legislators to resign en masse". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Cap. 542 Legislative Council Ordinance". Hong Kong e-Legislation.
  4. ^ "2016 Legislative Council Election". Government of Hong Kong. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  5. ^ "2008 Legislative Council Election". Government of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  6. ^ "2008 Legislative Council Election". Government of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  7. ^ "2004 Legislative Council Election – Election Results". Government of Hong Kong. 7 September 2004. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Legislative Council Elections Results". Government of Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2015.