Commercial (First)
商界（第一）
Functional constituency
for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
Country Hong Kong
Electorate1,041 (2021)[1]
Current constituency
Created1985
Number of membersOne
Member(s)Jeffrey Lam (BPA)

The Commercial (First) functional constituency (Chinese: 商界（第一）功能界別) is a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong first created in 1985. The constituency is composed of corporate members of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) that are entitled to vote at general meetings of the Chamber.

It is one of the oldest functional constituencies created for the first elections to the Legislative Council in 1985. Prior to that, the Chamber had its representatives in the council thoroughly through elections at the general meetings since 1884.[2] It corresponds to the Commercial (First) Subsector in the Election Committee.

History

The Commercial (First) functional constituency was established as First Commercial, one of the two commercial electoral divisions elected by the chambers of commerce. It was one of the original 12 functional constituency seats created for the 1985 Legislative Council election, the first ever election for the colonial legislature. It was composed of bodies that are members of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) entitled to vote at general meetings of the chamber. Prior to that, the Chamber had its representatives in the council thoroughly through elections at the general meetings since 1884. The representatives are listed as following:

1884–1985 Chamber Legislative Council representatives[3]

Since its creation, it has been held by pro-business conservatives for the exception of former government official Jimmy McGregor, a liberal-leaning representative who defeated Veronica Wu of the conservative bloc Group of 88 in the 1988 Legislative Council election and held the office from 1988 to 1995.[4] He co-founded the pro-democracy professional-oriented Hong Kong Democratic Foundation (HKDF) and was an ally of the last governor Chris Patten over the controversial constitutional reform proposal.

From 1998 to 2004, the seat was held by pro-business Liberal Party chairman and Executive Councillor James Tien until he contested in the direct election in the 2004 Legislative Council election. Tien's successor Jeffrey Lam who has held the seat since 2004 abruptly quit the Liberal Party in 2008 in the intra-party split. He became representative for the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) and has become member of the Executive Council.

Return members

ElectionMemberParty
1985 Thomas Clydesdale Nonpartisan
1988 Jimmy McGregor Nonpartisan
1991 HKDF
1995 Paul Cheng Independent
Not represented in the PLC
1998 James Tien Liberal
2000
2004 Jeffrey Lam Liberal
2008 Liberal→Independent→Economic Synergy
2012 Economic Synergy→BPA
2016 BPA
2021

Electoral results

2020s

2021 Legislative Council election: Commercial (First)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
BPA Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung 628 86.15
Nonpartisan Edmond Yew Yat-ming 101 13.85
Majority 527 72.30
Total valid votes 729 100.00
Rejected ballots 15
Turnout 744 72.94
Registered electors 1,041
BPA hold Swing

2010s

2016 Legislative Council election: Commercial (First)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
BPA Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung 455 53.97
Liberal Joseph Chan Ho-lim 388 46.03
Majority 67 7.94
Total valid votes 843 100.00
Rejected ballots 18
Turnout 861 82.39
Registered electors 1,086
BPA hold Swing
2012 Legislative Council election: Commercial (First)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Economic Synergy Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung Unopposed
Registered electors 927
Economic Synergy hold Swing

2000s

[5]

2008 Legislative Council election: Commercial (First)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung 465 70.24
Independent Markus Joytak Shaw 197 29.76
Majority 268 40.48
Total valid votes 662 100.00
Rejected ballots 32
Turnout 694 66.73
Registered electors 1,040
Liberal hold Swing

[6]

2004 Legislative Council election: Commercial (First)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung Unopposed
Registered electors 1,077
Liberal hold Swing

[7]

2000 Legislative Council election: Commercial (First)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal James Tien Pei-chun Unopposed
Registered electors 1,325
Liberal hold Swing

1990s

[7]

1998 Legislative Council election: Commercial (First)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal James Tien Pei-chun Unopposed
Registered electors 1,353
Liberal win (new seat)
1995 Legislative Council election: Commercial (First)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Paul Cheng Ming-fun Unopposed
Registered electors 1,273
Independent gain from HKDF Swing
1991 Legislative Council election: First Commercial
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
HKDF James David McGregor 487 53.93
BPF Paul Cheng Ming-fun 416 46.07
Majority 71 7.86
Total valid votes 903 100.00
Rejected ballots 8
Turnout 911 56.62
Registered electors 1,609
HKDF hold Swing

1980s

1988 Legislative Council election: First Commercial
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nonpartisan James David McGregor 478 66.95
Nonpartisan Veronica Wu Shao-ching 236 33.05
Majority 242 33.90
Total valid votes 714 100.00
Nonpartisan hold Swing
1985 Legislative Council election: First Commercial
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nonpartisan Thomas Clydesdale 470 59.49
Nonpartisan A. C. William Blaauw 320 40.51
Majority 150 18.98
Total valid votes 790 100.00
Nonpartisan win (new seat)

References

  1. ↑ "Voter Registration Statistics : Functional Constituency". Voter Registration.
  2. ↑ "Chamber Legistative Council Representatives". The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.
  3. ↑ "Chamber Legistative Council Representatives". The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.
  4. ↑ Fong, Bernard (20 August 1988). "It's party time for Hongkong's politicians". South China Morning Post.
  5. ↑ "2008 Legislative Council Election". Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  6. ↑ 2004 Legislative Council Election – Election Results Archived 17 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  7. 1 2 Legislative Council Elections Results Archived 29 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
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