Media

Power Distribution of the Four Political Camps, Seeing the 2007 District Council Election Results with Maps

23 Nov 2007

The Department of Geography and the Journalism and Media Studies Centre of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) announced today (November 23) an analysis of results of the 2007 District Council Election of four political camps from the spatial perspective.

Dr. P.C. Lai, Associate Professor of the Department of Geography, and her team applied the Geographic Information System (GIS) to analyze results of the District Council Election. The GIS technology was used to explore the power re-distribution of the four political camps or affiliations - pro-government, pro-democrat, moderate (Liberal Party) and independent candidates - of the said election.

They found that independent candidates managed to capture a considerable share of votes in certain districts like Wong Tai Sin, Kwun Tong, Yuen Long, Kowloon City, Wanchai and Southern; some of which used to be pro-government inclined. Taking Kwun Tong as an example, independent candidates obtained 22 out of 34 seats. Supporters of independent candidates of the District Council Election could potentially influence the outcome of the forthcoming Legislative Council HK Island Geographical Constituency By-election where the pro-democrats used to enjoy a 6:4 split in capturing votes.

The spatial analysis also revealed that the pro-democrat had a decreasing influence in districts with comparatively higher concentrations of Mainland immigrants with 7-10 years of residency in Hong Kong. Examples included Kwai Tsing, Sham Shui Po and Islands districts. Mainland immigrants with voting rights rose from 1.5% of the total population in 2001 to 3% in 2006. It appears that this group of "new" voters might contribute to the difference in the voting patterns.

The pro-democrats still managed to gain sizeable votes in certain districts like Shatin (gaining 15 out of 36 seats) and Central and Western (gaining 7 out of 15 seats). However, the pro-government camp seemed to penetrate into districts of pro-democratic influence, as in the cases of Sham Shui Po (Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood) and Kwai Tsing (Democratic Party).

Professor Ying Chan, Director of Journalism and Media Studies Centre (JMSC) elaborated on the importance and significance of applying GIS in journalism. GIS has been used widely in international media to report news on election, environment, public health, medical services, crime and transport. Journalists may derive additional insights through visualization and offer better news coverage to their readers.

Professor Chan revealed that the JMSC is to collaborate with the Department of Geography to mount a few courses on the use of GIS in news reporting.

She also advised the Hong Kong Government to liberate more public information and digital data in this information age for the promotion and application of GIS and to uphold the public's right to know.

The spatial analysis was done by the GIS team of the Department of Geography. The analysis included:- the performance of the pro-government versus the pro-democratic camps in capturing votes; correlation between socio-demographic factors and election results; spatial differences in turnout rate; spatial distribution of districts of pro-government inclination; potential impact of Mainland immigrants with the right to vote on districts known to have pro-democrat supporters; districts dominated by independent candidates; as well as possible insights to the forthcoming Legislative Council HK Island Geographical Constituency By-election.

For enquiries, please contact Ms. Velentina Ma, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, HKU (Tel: 2219 4012/9123 0252 / E-mail: velentinam@hku.hk )