International Journal of Political Science and Development
 

International Journal of Political Science and Development

Vol. 2(6), pp. 117 –131, June, 2014

DOI: 10.14662/IJPSD2014.025

 ISSN: 2360-784X

Full Length Research

How party politics and media communication affect election results in Hong Kong: forecasting party strategies in the 2015 district council and 2016 legislative council elections

Prosper Bernard, Jr.[1], Pak Kuen Au², Michel Plaisent³ and James Ming-Hsun Chiang⁴

¹Lecturer of Political Science, City University of New York. Corresponding author’s E-mail: Prosper.Bernard@csi.cuny.edu

²News Editor, Oriental Press Group.

³Full Professor, Department of Management and Technology, University of Quebec in Montreal.

⁴Post Doctoral Fellow Supervisor, Research Center of Government Management, Peking University.

This study analyzes the electoral outcomes of Hong Kong’s District Council and Legislative Council elections in 2011 and 2012 respectively. It focuses particularly on the role that the media and intra-alliance party coordination played in influencing those electoral outcomes. Empirical evidence shows that the dissemination of negative information through the media and lack of coordination between members of the pro-democratic camp contributed to its electoral setbacks in recent elections. In the wake of the 2012 election, all political parties began to rethink of how to better manage their media exposure in order to enhance reelection probabilities of their members who are going to face popular scrutiny in the 2015 District Council and 2016 Legislative Council elections. Personal accounts of various political parties’ leaders reveal that parties are developing more effective media strategies to be used in future elections and recognize the importance of maintaining unity among alliance members.

Keywords: Legislative Council election, District Council election, political reforms, media communication strategy, Occupy Central

 

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