Pro-democracy camp
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Convenor | James To (DP) |
Founded | 1986 |
Ideology |
Direct democracy Liberalism (Hong Kong) Radical democracy Social democracy Social liberalism |
Political position | Centre to Centre-left |
Colors |
Green and Yellow (customary) |
Legislative Council |
26 / 70
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District Councils |
118 / 458
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Pro-democracy camp | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 民主派 | ||||||||
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Pan-democracy camp | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 泛民主派 | ||||||||
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Transcriptions | |
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Yue: Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | Màhn jyú paai |
Jyutping | Man4 zyu2 paai3 |
Transcriptions | |
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Yue: Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | Faan màhn jyú paai |
Jyutping | Faan6 man4 zyu2 paai3 |
The pro-democracy camp or pan-democracy camp (Chinese: 民主派 or 泛民主派) refers to a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic Law under the "One Country, Two Systems" framework.
The pro-democrats generally embrace liberal values such as rule of law, human rights, civil liberties and social justice, yet their economic positions vary. They are often identified as the "opposition camp" due to its non-cooperative and sometimes confrontational stance toward the Hong Kong SAR and Chinese central governments. Opposite to the pro-democracy camp is the pro-Beijing camp, whose members are perceived to be supportive of the central government of China. Since its existence, the camp has received 55 to 60 per cent of the votes in each election but returned less than a half of the seats in the Legislative Council due to the structure of the legislature.
The pro-democracy activists emerged from the youth movements in the 1970s and began to take part in electoral politics as the colonial government introduced representative democracy in the mid 1980s. The pro-democrats joined hand in pushing for greater democracy both in the transition period and after handover of Hong Kong in 1997. They also supported greater democracy in China and took the supporting role in the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989. The relationship between the pro-democrats and the Beijing government strained after the Beijing's bloody crackdown on the protest and the pro-democrats were labelled "treason". After the 2004 Legislative Council election, the term "pan-democracy camp" (abbreviated "pan-dems") was more in use as more different parties and politicians from different political spectrums emerged.