United Democrats of Hong Kong
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United Democrats of Hong Kong 香港民主同盟 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairman | Martin Lee |
| Vice-Chairmen | Yeung Sum Albert Ho |
| Founded | 23 April 1990 |
| Dissolved | 2 October 1994 |
| Succeeded by | Democratic Party |
| Ideology | Liberalism (HK) Liberal democracy |
| Regional affiliation | Pro-democracy camp |
| Colours | Green |
| United Democrats of Hong Kong | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 香港民主同盟 | ||||||
| |||||||
The United Democrats of Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港民主同盟, 港同盟; UDHK) was the first political party in Hong Kong.[1] Founded in 1990, the short-lived party was the united front of the liberal democracy forces in preparation of the 1991 first ever direct election for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. The party won a landslide victory by sweeping 12 of the 18 directly elected seats in the election which shook the political landscape of Hong Kong. In 1994 it was merged with another pro-democracy party Meeting Point to form the contemporary Democratic Party.
The main objectives of Democrats are to maintain the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, to better the welfare and quality of life of the people of Hong Kong; and to strengthen the position of Hong Kong as an industrial, commercial and international financial centre. In pursuit of these aims, the party strived
- to promote and facilitate the implementation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration,
- to promote, establish and uphold a democratic, open and accountable government in Hong Kong;
- to safeguard the rule of law, human rights, civil liberties and social justice,
- to promote and facilitate the full implementation of the provision of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
- to cultivate civic consciousness and promote participation in public affairs;
- to enhance and improve productivity and facilitate economic development and progress,
- to improve people's livelihood, especially in the areas of education, medical services, housing and transport;
- to promote better social security and a comprehensive welfare system that is appropriate for the circumstances of Hong Kong;
- to support suitable members of the United Democrats of Hong Kong to stand for or otherwise participate in elections;
- to promote and facilitate the interflow in know-how, technology, telecommunication, education, culture and sports with other countries and regions.[2]
Structure
The United Democrats had a large labour component among its top leadership. 6 of its 30 Central Committee members, including Szeto Wah and Lau Chin-shek, were leaders of the major independent unions, namely the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (PTU) and the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee (CIC) respectively. They are veterans of labour protests and community movements. Some other core members of the party were experienced in collective mobilisation and electoral campaigns, such as Tuen Mun's Ng Ming-yum and Sha Tin's Lau Kong-wah and Wong Hong-chung and Eastern District's Man Sai-cheong who brought their local networks into the party.[3]
