Democracy Deformed: Hong Kong's 1998 Legislative Elections – and Beyond

Abstract

Electoral democracy has been defined as “a system of government in which the principal positions of effective government power are filled, directly or indirectly, through meaningful, regular, free and fair… elections.” By this criterion, Hong Kong today falls short of being an electoral democracy. There are periodic elections, and there is a 60-seat Legislative Council (LegCo), at least some of whose members are chosen by universal adult suffrage. There are also a number of organized, highly articulate political parties whose legislative members are frequent, outspoken critics of the government and its policies. And there is a system of transparent electoral laws and procedures administered by a professionally neutral civil service, ensuring that elections remain free and fair. Yet for all its manifest electoral virtues, democracy in post-handover Hong Kong is highly constrained and confined, as noted in the previous article by Suzanne Pepper.