View source for The Frontier (Hong Kong)

{{distinguish|The Frontier (Hong Kong, 2010)}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = The Frontier
| native_name      = {{noitalics|{{nobold|前綫}}}}
| logo             = File:The Frontier (Hong Kong) logo.png
| logo_size        = 220px
| colorcode        = #ffd203
| founder          = [[Emily Lau]]
| foundation       = {{Start date and age|1996|8|26|df=yes}}
| dissolved        = {{End date and age|2008|11|23|df=yes}}
| successor        = [[The Frontier (Hong Kong, 2010)|The Frontier (2010)]]
| merged           = [[Democratic Party (Hong Kong)|Democratic Party]]
| affiliation1_title = Regional affiliation
| affiliation1     = [[Pan-democracy camp]]
| ideology         = [[Direct democracy]]<br />[[Environmentalism]]<br />[[Social democracy]]<br />[[Social liberalism]]
| position         = [[Centre-left politics|Centre-left]]
| colours          = {{colour box|{{party color|The Frontier (Hong Kong)}}}} [[Yellow]]
| country          = Hong Kong
}}
{{Liberalism in Hong Kong}}
'''The Frontier''' was a [[pro-democracy camp|pro-democracy]] political group in [[Hong Kong]]. It was founded on 26 August 1996 by a group of [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong|Legislative Council]] members and democratic activists headed by Convenor [[Emily Lau]]. It was merged into the [[Democratic Party (Hong Kong)|Democratic Party]], the pro-democracy flagship party on 23 November 2008.<ref name="merge">{{cite news|url=http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2c913216495213d5df646910cba0a0a0/?vgnextoid=e5cccaa974acd110VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=teaser&ss=Hong+Kong&s=News|title=Frontier members vote for Democrats merger|work=South China Morning Post}}</ref> [[The Frontier (2010-)|A new party bearing the same name]] was established in 2010 by former members who opposed the previous Frontier joining the Democratic Party.

==Beliefs==
Among the [[pro-democracy camp|pro-democratic]] parties, the Frontier took a relatively radical political agenda than the [[Democratic Party (Hong Kong)|Democratic Party]]. Besides upholding [[human rights]], [[rule of law]] and fighting for [[universal suffrage]], it called for a new constitution drafted by the Hong Kong people to replace the [[Hong Kong Basic Law]], which led to a direct confrontation to the PRC central government.<ref name="Horlemann">{{cite book|page=52|title=Hong Kong's Transition to Chinese Rule: The Limits of Autonomy|first=Ralf|last=Horlemann|publisher=Routledge|year=2013}}</ref> For its continuing challenge to the central and SAR governments, it was described as a "head-bander" party.<ref name="Beatty"/>

The group had a left wing position on economic matters, with both membership and legislators except Emily Lau heavily involved in labour and worker activities.<ref name="Beatty">{{cite book|page=29|title=Democracy, Asian Values, and Hong Kong: Evaluating Political Elite Beliefs|first=Bob|last=Beatty|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2003}}</ref>

==History==
The Frontier was officially launched on 26 August 1996 by one of Hong Kong's most popular pro-democracy figures, [[Emily Lau]].<ref name="Horlemann"/> The founding members included her colleagues in the [[Legislative Council of Hong Kong|Legislative Council]], [[Lee Cheuk-yan]] and [[Lau Chin-shek]] from the [[Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions]] (CTU), [[Leung Yiu-chung]] from the [[Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre]] (NWSC) and Independent [[Elizabeth Wong (author)|Elizabeth Wong]], as well as about 100 professionals, students and unionists. It had five seats in the last days in the colonial legislature, making it the second-largest pro-democracy group after the [[Democratic Party (Hong Kong)|Democratic Party]]. The Frontier did not regard itself as a political party, but rather as an alliance for "democracy, human rights and the rule of law" in Hong Kong.<ref name="Horlemann"/>

In the [[1998 Hong Kong legislative election|1998 LegCo elections]], the Frontier won total of three seats, excluding Lau Chin-shek who ran as Democratic Party candidate and Leung Yiu-chung ran as Independent, gaining about 10% of the popular votes just behind the pro-democracy flagship party Democratic Party and [[pro-Beijing camp|pro-Beijing]] flagship party [[Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong]] (DAB). Emily Lau and [[Cyd Ho]] were elected with the highest votes in the [[New Territories East (constituency)|New Territories East]].

Although Emily Lau, Cyd Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan were re-elected in the [[2000 Hong Kong legislative election|2000 LegCo elections]], Lee Cheuk-yan began to run under the banner of the CTU. which made the Frontier's seat in the legislature reduce to two.

In April 2002, a number of radical "[[Democratic Party (Hong Kong)#Factions|Young Turks]]" faction of the Democratic Party including [[Andrew To]] who had earlier formed a group called the [[Social Democratic Forum]] (SDF), split from the Democrats to join the Frontier.

In the [[2004 Hong Kong legislative election|2004 LegCo elections]], the Frontier won only one seat in the LegCo, occupied by Emily Lau, after Cyd Ho lost in the [[Hong Kong Island (constituency)|Hong Kong Island]]. This was believed to be caused by a tactical mistake by the Democratic Party to absorb too many votes from Cyd Ho which led to the defeat of Ho to DAB's [[Choy So-yuk]].

On 23 November 2008 after the [[2008 Hong Kong legislative election|LegCo elections]], the Frontier declared to merge with the Democratic Party, but the motion to have it disbanded failed to meet the required support level of 80%.<ref name="merge"/> [[The Frontier (Hong Kong, 2010)|A new party bearing the same name]] was established on 9 September 2010 by former members who opposed the previous Frontier joining the Democratic Party. Yang Sun-kong, the former Secretary General of the Frontier became the Convenor of the new group which is now part of the radical pro-democracy [[People Power (Hong Kong)|People Power]]. Emily Lau became the Vice-Chairwoman of the Democratic Party and was subsequently elected as the party's Chairwoman in [[2012 Democratic Party (HK) leadership election|2012 leadership election]].

==Electoral performance==

===Legislative Council elections===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"
|-align=center
! '''Election'''
! Number of<br />popular votes
! % of<br />popular votes
! [[Geographical constituency|GC]]<br />seats
! [[Functional constituency (Hong Kong)|FC]]<br />seats
! [[Election Committee (constituency)|EC]]<br />seats
! Total seats
! +/−
! Position
|-
! [[1998 Hong Kong legislative election|1998]]
| 148,507{{nochange}}
| 10.03{{nochange}}
| 3
| 0
| 0
| {{Composition bar|3|60|hex={{party color|The Frontier (Hong Kong)}}}}
| {{N/A}}
| 5th{{nochange}}
|-
! [[2000 Hong Kong legislative election|2000]]
| 89,529{{decrease}}
| 6.70{{decrease}}
| 2
| 0
| 0
| {{Composition bar|2|60|hex={{party color|The Frontier (Hong Kong)}}}}
| 2{{decrease}}
| 5th{{nochange}}
|-
! [[2004 Hong Kong legislative election|2004]]
| 121,900{{increase}}
| 6.89{{increase}}
| 1
| 0
| rowspan=2| 
| {{Composition bar|1|60|hex={{party color|The Frontier (Hong Kong)}}}}
| 1{{decrease}}
| 6th{{decrease}}
|-
! [[2008 Hong Kong legislative election|2008]]
| 33,205{{decrease}}
| 2.19{{decrease}}
| 1
| 0
| {{Composition bar|1|60|hex={{party color|The Frontier (Hong Kong)}}}}
| 0{{nochange}}
| 10th{{decrease}}
|-
|}

===District Council elections===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"
|-align=center
! Election
! Number of<br />popular votes
! % of<br />popular votes
! Total<br />elected seats
! +/−
|-
! [[1999 Hong Kong local elections|1999]]
| 9,388{{nochange}}
| 1.16{{nochange}}
| {{Composition bar|4|390|hex={{party color|The Frontier (Hong Kong)}}}}
| 1{{increase}}
|-
! [[2003 Hong Kong local elections|2003]]
| 25,349{{increase}}
| 2.41{{decrease}}
| {{Composition bar|6|400|hex={{party color|The Frontier (Hong Kong)}}}}
| 1{{increase}}
|-
! [[2007 Hong Kong local elections|2007]]
| 18,203{{decrease}}
| 1.60{{decrease}}
| {{Composition bar|3|405|hex={{party color|The Frontier (Hong Kong)}}}}
| 2{{decrease}}
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://fungchiwood.com/join-Frontier-cuttings.htm Press cuttings of "Young Turks" joining The Frontier]
{{Hong Kong political parties}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frontier}}
[[Category:1996 establishments in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:2008 disestablishments in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Liberal parties in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 2008]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1996]]
[[Category:Pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong)]]
[[Category:Social democratic parties in Hong Kong]]