The campaign strategies of the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy parties under the proportional representation system in Hong Kong before 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategies employed by the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps in the proportional representation system which was used to universally elect a half of the seats in the Legislative Council (LegCo) of Hong Kong before 2019. It provides the consequences of proportional representation over the political sphere development after the handover.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on the past election results and the interviews conducted with 18 LegCo members in 2018.FindingsThis paper examines how the political parties split their lists in order to win more seats with the past electoral outcomes. Coupled with firsthand materials from interviews with the legislators, the most significant part of this article analyzes why the pro-Beijing camp performed better than the pro-democracy camp. It supplements the gap of current literature from the perspective of campaign strategies. This article also points out the Chinese authorities' miscalculation in the 1990s which resulted in the unintentional creation of fragmented politics and filibusters before 2019.Originality/valueThis examines the development of campaign strategies of the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps, and it explains how the proportional representation caused the fragmented politics in Hong Kong.