ABSTRACT
Five years, indeed, can be a very long time in politics, especially for the democratic camp in Hong Kong. The past fifty-some months since Hong Kong’s retrocession to People’s Republic of China (PRC) sovereignty in July 1997 have witnessed four seasonal changes for the democratic camp in both electoral maneuvers and realpolitik struggles. 1 The first phase, July 1997–April 1998, saw almost all the major prodemocratic figures absent from PRC-appointed Special Administrative Region (SAR) provisional legislature (PLC). The second phase, May 1998–April 1999, was a rebound for the democratic camp returning to the arena on their first SAR Legislative Council (Legco) elections victories. The third phase, from spring 1999 to summer 2000, was marked by the democratic camp’s marginal performance in the District Council (DC) elections, the abolition of the Urban Council and Regional Council, and bitter internal strife on economic policy and electioneering. The most recent fourth phase, still unfolding since the September 2000 second SAR Legco elections, has been a period of retrenchment for the democratic camp against the ascendancy of the pro-Beijing bloc and public disenchantment with political parties.
