The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) (民主建港協進聯盟, formerly 民主建港聯盟, or 民建聯 in short) is the largest pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong SAR of the PRC. Founded in 10 July 1992, the party has been headed by Ma Lik since December 2003. Elections are held in Hong Kong when certain offices in the government need to be filled. ... A political party is a political organization subscribing to a certain ideology or formed around very special issues with the aim to participate in power, usually by participating in elections. ... July 10 is the 191st day (192nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 174 days remaining. ... 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Ma Lik (馬力) GBS JP is currently the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), a pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. ...

The party started with a single seat on the Legislative Council. The 1995 LegCo elections increased the DAB's share to six seats. After 1997 when Hong Kong was handed over to PRC, DAB enjoyed political "free lunch" from PRC, and gained a number of seats in Legco through Functional Constituency election which was deemed unfair, and they remain unfavour in local district direct election. In 2000 it had ten councillors in Legco. The most recent Legislative Council election in 2004, it become the largest (by number) political party to be represented with 12 seats, with the Liberal Party coming second (10 seats), and the Democratic Party coming third (9 seats).

Twelve district councillors joined the party on its formation, a share that increased to 37 seats in the 1994 elections and 83 in 1999. In the wake of the controversies over the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law in 2003, the party's popularity dropped drastically and the November 2003 District Councils elections saw its seats drop to 62. The election results have led to the resignation of its former Chairman, Jasper Tsang Yok-sing. However, due to health of Ma Lik, Tsang is still very much representing DAB.

The DAB is a conservative and pro-Beijing government party vis-a-vis the Democratic Party, and was claimed to be not popular amongst the younger generation and citizens with high education level, who demand political reforms and a better system of checks and balances against the government.

A merger with the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance was announced on 16 February 2005. The two parties were merged with new leadership selected on 31 May 2005. Brief Introduction The Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA) (香港協進聯盟/港進聯) is a political party in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining, as the last day of May. ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Controversies

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong

Chairman:	Ma Lik
Founded:	July 10, 1992
Headquarters:	12/F. SUP Tower 83 King's Road North Point Hong Kong Image File history File links Image-Democratic_Alliance_for_the_Betterment_of_Hong_Kong_logo. ... Ma Lik (馬力) GBS JP is currently the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), a pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. ... July 10 is the 191st day (192nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 174 days remaining. ... 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... North Point (北角) is an area of Hong Kong, located in the northern part of Hong Kong Island. ...
District Councillors	83
Legislative Councillors	12
Political ideology:	"Pro-Beijing"
Website:	DAB

The DAB is well-known for providing welfare to people, including seafood meals, local trips to outlying islands, at price significantly lower than in market. It also provides free transport and meals to mobilise people to join its mass rallies. It is reported that some of the participants do not know they are going to join the rallies, but rather part of the trip, until they are sent to the venue. Chinese Communist Party flag The Chinese Communist Party (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共産黨; pinyin: ) is the ruling party of the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Islands District (離島區) is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. ...

The DAB and its sister organisation HKFTU are famous for their ability to mobilize their supporters, including employees of PRC state-owned companies, to vote for their candidates in elections. In the 2004 Legislative Council election, although support of Chan Yuen Han's ticket is far higher than Chan Kam Lam's, both in the same constituency and representing DAB and HKFTU, the two organisations managed to share their supports equally among the two tickets, despite a remarkable difference in support in earlier polls. At another constituency, the ticket of Ma Lik and Choy So Yuk took the advantage by the heat competition from the same pool of support among two pro-democracy tickets. The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) (香港工會聯合會 / 工聯會) is a pro-Beijing labour and political group in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) were held on September 12, 2004. ... Ma Lik (馬力) GBS JP is currently the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), a pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. ...

See also

• Politics of Hong Kong
• List of political parties in Hong Kong

On July 1, 1997, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) resumed its exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, ending more than 150 years of British colonial control. ... A political party is a political organization subscribing to a certain ideology or formed around very special issues with the aim to participate in power, usually by participating in elections. ...

External links

• Official website