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The Strategic Coordination under Quasi-SNTV: A Case Study of Hong Kong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2017

JUDY CHIA YIN WEI
JUDY CHIA YIN WEI*
Affiliation:
Center for East Asia Democratic Studies in National Taiwan Universityproma99.tw@gmail.com
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Abstract

This article aims to explore the effects of quasi-SNTV (Single Non-transferable Vote) under the Largest Remainder Proportional Representation (LRPR) in Legislative Council (LegCo) elections in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) after the British handover of 1997. Although the quasi-SNTV results from the inability of political parties to control their candidates, the Democratic Party (DP) and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) can obtain more seats in total than they could by coordinating around one single list if they can successfully control their party label and the political camps can coordinate different parties and candidates. The quasi-SNTV in Hong Kong is notable for the strategic coordination found in its alliances, a key aspect that differentiates it from Colombia's quasi-SNTV. The DP's failure can be attributed to its internal conflicts and the lack of coordination among the pro-democracy alliances. In contrast to the democratic camp, which lacks any overriding authority to coordinate different parties and candidates, the pro-China's united front machinery facilitates coordination and helps the DAB perform better than the DP in quasi-SNTV.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 155 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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