Islands District Council

The Islands District Council is the district council for the Islands District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Islands District currently consists of 18 members, of which the district is divided into 10 constituencies, electing a total of 10 with 8 ex-officio members who is the Peng Chau, Lamma North, Tung Chung, Lamma South, Tai O, Lantau South, Mui Wo and Cheung Chau rural committee chairmen. The latest election was held on 24 November 2019.

Islands District Council 離島區議會
Type
Type	Hong Kong District Council of the Islands District
History
Founded	1 April 1981 (1981-04-01) (District Board) 1 July 1997 (1997-07-01) (Provisional) 1 January 2000 (2000-01-01) (District Council)
Leadership
Chair	Amy Yeung Wai-sum, Independent
Vice-Chair	Vacant
Structure
Seats	18 councillors consisting of 2 elected members 4 district committee members 4 appointed members 8 ex officio members
DAB	3 / 18
FTU	1 / 18
Independent	14 / 18
Elections
Voting system	First past the post
Last election	10 December 2023
Meeting place
20/F., Harbour Building, 38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong
Website
www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/island/

Islands District Council
Traditional Chinese	離島區議會
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Lèih dóu kēui yíh wuih Jyutping Lei4 dou2 keoi1 ji5 wui6

History

Emblem of Islands District Board (1982–1997)

The Islands District Council was established on 1 April 1981 under the name of the Islands 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 eight Rural Committees, Peng Chau, Lamma North, Tung Chung, Lamma South, Tai O, Lantau South, Mui Wo and Cheung Chau, as well as members appointed by the Governor until 1994 when last Governor Chris Patten refrained from appointing any member.

The Islands District Board became the Islands 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 Islands 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 Islands District Council has the most number of eight ex-officio seats and is dominated by the rural forces. As the Tung Chung new town was developed in the early 2000s, some political parties have also successfully made attempts in those areas, notably Tang Ka-piu of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) in Yat Tung Estate North and Holden Chow of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) in Tung Chung South. Amy Yung Wing-sheung of the pro-democracy Civic Party has also held Discovery Bay since 2000.

In the historic landslide victory in 2019 election, Islands District Council became the only council where pro-democrats gained the majority of the elected seats but failed to take control of the council due to the 8 ex-officio seats. However, the pro-democrats got 7 of the 10 elected seats and ousted DAB legislator Holden Chow for District Council (Second) from his 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	None	1985 - 1988
Pro-government	None	1988 - 1991
Pro-government	None	1991 - 1994
Pro-Beijing	DAB	1994 - 1997
Pro-Beijing	DAB	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-Beijing	Civic → DAB	2020 - 2023
Pro-Beijing	Independent	2024 - 2027

Political makeup

Elections are held every four years.

	Political party	Council members							Current members
		1994	1999	2003	2007	2011	2015	2019
	Independent	4	5	4	3	3	2	6	15 / 18
	Civic	-	-	-	2	1	1	2	1 / 18
	DAB	2	2	4	4	4	3	1	1 / 18
	Democratic	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1 / 18

District result maps

• 
  1994
• 
  1999
• 
  2003
• 
  2007
• 
  2011
• 
  2015
• 
  2019

Members represented

Capacity	Code	Constituency	Name	Political affiliation		Term		Notes
Elected	T01	Islands	Yip Pui-kei		DAB	1 January 2024	Incumbent
			Lau Chin-pang		FTU	1 January 2024	Incumbent
District Committees			Mealoha Kwok Wai-man		DAB	1 January 2024	Incumbent
			Lau Shun-ting		DAB	1 January 2024	Incumbent
			Luo Chenghuan		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
			Jonathan Chow Yuen-kuk		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
Appointed			Randy Yu Hon-kwan		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
			Ng Choi-wah		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
			Lau Shun-ting		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
			Lau Shuk-han		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
Ex Officio		Peng Chau Rural Committee Chairman	Wong Hon-kuen		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
		Lamma North Rural Committee Chairman	Chan Lin-wai		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
		Tung Chung Rural Committee Chairman	Wong Chau-ping		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
		Lamma South Rural Committee Chairman	Chow Yuk-tong		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
		Tai O Rural Committee Chairman	Ho Siu-kei		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
		Lantau South Rural Committee Chairman	Ho Chun-fai		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
		Mui Wo Rural Committee Chairman	Wong Man-hon		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent
		Cheung Chau Rural Committee Chairman	Yung Chi-ming		Independent	1 January 2024	Incumbent

Leadership

Chairs

Since 1985, the chairman is elected by all the members of the board:

Chairman		Years	Political Affiliation
	Fok Siu-tung	1981	District Officer
	Ricky Fung	1981–1983	District Officer
	William Yap	1983–1985	District Officer
	Daniel Lam Wai-keung	1985–2011	Heung Yee Kuk
	Chow Yuk-tong	2012–2019	Heung Yee Kuk
	Randy Yu Hon-kwan	2020–2023	Heung Yee Kuk
	Amy Yeung Wai-sum	2024–present	District Officer

Vice Chairs

Vice Chairman		Years	Political Affiliation
	Chau Chuen-heung	2000–2015	DAB
	Randy Yu Hon-kwan	2016–2019	Heung Yee Kuk
	Wong Man-hon	2020–2023	Heung Yee Kuk