The Yuen Long District Council (; noted as YL) is the district council for the Yuen Long District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Yuen Long District currently consists of 46 members, of which the district is divided into four constituencies, electing a total of 8 members, 16 district committee members, 16 appointed members, and 6 ex officio members who are the Shap Pat Heung, San Tin, Ha Tsuen, Kam Tin, Ping Shan and Pat Heung rural committee chairmen. The latest election was held on 10 December 2023.

History The Yuen Long District Council was established on 1 April 1981 under the name of the Yuen Long District Board as the result of the colonial Governor Murray MacLehose's District Administration Scheme reform. The District Board was partly elected with the ex-officio Regional Council members and chairmen of six Rural Committees, Shap Pat Heung, San Tin, Ha Tsuen, Kam Tin, Ping Shan and Pat Heung, as well as members appointed by the Governor until 1994 when last Governor Chris Patten refrained from appointing any member.

The Yuen Long District Board became Yuen Long Provisional District Board after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was established in 1997 with the appointment system being reintroduced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. The current Yuen Long District Council was established on 1 January 2000 after the first District Council election in 1999. The appointed seats were abolished in 2015 after the modified constitutional reform proposal was passed by the Legislative Council in 2010.

The Yuen Long District Council is one of the fastest growing council due to the development of the new towns of Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai, and has become the largest council of the territory. It had been tightly dominated by the rural forces due to its vast rural areas and the ex-officio rural committee representatives. The chairmanship of the council had been taken by rural or rural-related councillors, such as Tai Kuen, chairman from 1985 to 1999, was a rural strongman; Tang Siu-tong, chairman from 2000 to 2007, was a rural leader which represented the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance and was elected to the Legislative Council in 2000 on the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) ticket; Leung Che-cheung, chairman from 2008 to 2015, was a member of the DAB and president of the New Territories Association of Societies (NTAS) who has been Legislative Councillor since 2012.

The Tin Shui Wai new town was also dominated by the pro-Beijing forces. The pro-democrats have limited influence in the district, such as Zachary Wong and Kwong Chun-yu in Long Ping Estate and the pro-Taipei Democratic Alliance's Johnny Mak in Fung Cheung. On the capacity of Yuen Long District Councillor, Kwong was elected to the Legislative Council through the District Council (Second) constituency in 2016.

The pro-Beijing and rural domination was turned over in the 2019 historic landslide victory where the pro-democrats took over all the urban constituencies and a few rural constituencies amid the massive pro-democracy protests. All pro-Beijing councillors in Tin Shui Wai including Luk Chung-hung of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) being unseated and some rural incumbents were also surprisingly defeated. As a result, the pro-democrats took 33 of the 39 elected seats and seized control of the 45-member council for the first time.

In the 2023 District Council election, 8 of the 46 seats on the Yuen Long District Council are elected by elected members, 16 are elected by district committees, 16 are appointed members, and 6 ex-officio members make up the current Yuen Long District Council. In the Yuen Long District Council, among the 46 members, 29 are independent members, 12 are from the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, 3 from the Federation of Trade Unions, 1 from the Economic Alliance for Democracy, and 1 from democratic ideas. Among the 46 members, 45 are from the pro-establishment camp. ,1 centrist seat.

Political control Since 1982 political control of the council has been held by the following parties: Camp in control Largest party Years Composition No Overall Control None 1982 - 1985 Pro-government Reform Club 1985 - 1988 Pro-government Meeting Point 1988 - 1991 Pro-government United Democrats 1991 - 1994 Pro-Beijing Democratic 1994 - 1997 Pro-Beijing Democratic 1997 - 1999 Pro-Beijing DAB 2000 - 2003 Pro-Beijing DAB 2004 - 2007 Pro-Beijing DAB 2008 - 2011 Pro-Beijing DAB 2012 - 2015 Pro-Beijing DAB 2016 - 2019 Pro-democracy → Pro-Beijing Democratic → None 2020 - 2023 Pro-Beijing DAB 2024 - 2027

Political makeup

Elections are held every four years.     Political party Council members Current members 1994 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019   Independent 15 14 17 15 14 17 20   Democratic 3 1 2 2 3 2 7   TSWC - - - - - - 4   Action 18 - - - - - - 2   DA - - 4 1 - 1 2   Civic Passion - - - - - - 1   TSWLPU - - - - - - -

District result maps

Members represented

Leadership Chairs Since 1985, the chairman is elected by all the members of the board: Chairman Years Political Affiliation Fung Kwok-keung 1981–1982 District Officer J. K. Wilson 1982–1985 District Officer Tai Kuen 1985–1999 Heung Yee Kuk Tang Siu-tong 2000–2007 PA→DAB Leung Che-cheung 2008–2015 DAB/NTAS Shum Ho-kit 2016–2019 Heung Yee Kuk Zachary Wong Wai-ying 2020–2021 Democratic Shum Ho-kit 2021–2023 Independent Gordon Wu Tin-yau 2024–present District Officer

Vice Chairs Vice Chairman Years Political Affiliation Leung Che-cheung 2000–2008 DAB Tang Yun-chor 2008–2011 Heung Yee Kuk Leung Fuk-yuen 2011 Heung Yee Kuk Wong Wai-shun 2012–2019 NPP→BPA Johnny Mak Ip-sing 2020–2021 Democratic Alliance Tang Ho-lin 2021–2023 Independent

Notes

References

External links Yuen Long District Council