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Centrism in Hong Kong refers to a political outlook and alignment that positions itself between the pro-democracy and pro-Beijing camps. Those within this alignment are often referred to as the centrist camp (中間派),[1] centrist groups,[2] moderate camp[3] or moderate groups.[4]

Although they are not actively pro-government at the level of the pro-Beijing camp, many centrists interact with and support the Chinese government; for example, Ronny Tong of Path of Democracy entered the Executive Council of Hong Kong. Both Path of Democracy and Third Side join the ‘patriots-only’ legislative election.[5]

History

A 2015 poll by The University of Hong Kong found that 41.9% of Hong Kong’s population describe themselves as “centrists”, 28.4% as “pro-democracy camp supporters”, and 11.4% as “pro-Beijing camp supporters”.[6]

Christine Fong and Wong Sing-chi, classified as centrist in the 2016 New Territories East by-election, lost to Alvin Yeung, classified as pro-democracy camp. At the time, Christine Fong received 33,424 votes, while Wong Singh-chi received 17,257 votes; in New Territories, the centrist camp received about 12%.

Third Side chairman Tik Chi-yuen claims that voters abandoned the centrist line and voted for a pro-Beijing camp because of the ‘Returning to the Edge Effect’ (歸邊效應) in the election. He analyzed that the centrist camp is likely to win 1 seat in the New Territories if it works with centrist politicians at the 2016 Hong Kong legislative election.[7]

In the 2016 Hong Kong legislative election; Wong Singh-chi bolted from the Third Side and ran for the Social Welfare functional constitution, Tik Chi-yuen ran for the Kowloon West, Christine Fong was eliminated from 10th place with 34,544 votes in the eastern district of New Territories,[8] the Path of Democracy sent two lists to Hong Kong Island and the eastern part of the New Territories and losing with 10,028 and 8,084 votes (respectively, which was a very small number of votes, resulting in the confiscation of the election deposit).

In the 2021 Hong Kong legislative election, the only centrist candidate elected was Tik Chi-yuen.[9]

Political organizations

Current

Former

Macau

In Macau, there are two political parties that are part of the centrist spectrum, Synergy of Macao and Macao Civic Power.

See also

References

  1. ^ “Competing and Diverse Media Discourses in Hong Kong: A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of Media Representation of Alibaba’s Acquisition of SCMP”. Hong Kong Baptist University. Jun 2025. Methodologically, the approach of Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is adopted to analyze the media reporting of this event by newspapers in Hong Kong with divergent political stances, i.e., Apple Daily (AD) representing pro-democracy camp, Ming Pao (MP) representing centrist camp, and Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po, and Hong Kong Commercial Daily (TWC) representing pro-establishment/Beijing camp.
  2. ^ a b Hillary Leung (16 November 2025). “Hong Kong centrist, moderate groups hit brick wall in securing candidate nominations for ‘patriots only’ elections”. Hong Kong Free Press. In the wake of Beijing’s electoral overhaul in 2021, which applies to both LegCo and District Council races, centrist groups like Third Side have been struggling to secure enough nominations to field election candidates.
  3. ^ P.C. Lai (May 2008). “Modelling voter behaviours by geographic information technology: a case of Hong Kong in 2004”. Taylor & Francis Online. Other competitors include the Moderate camp and independent candidates. The Pro-Democracy camp comprises representatives of the Democratic Party (DP) […]
  4. ^ Chih-Jou Jay Chen & Victor Zheng (2021). Changing Attitudes toward China in Taiwan and Hong Kong in the Xi Jinping Era. “… voters includes voters who responded as independent voters, moderate groups (中間派), ‘all supported,’ ‘neither supported,’ and ‘not a party …”. 中央研究院社會學研究所 [Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica].
  5. ^ Candice Chau (10 November 2021). “Hong Kong ‘non-pro-establishment’ party Path of Democracy secure spots in ‘patriots only’ legislative race”. Hong Kong Free Press.
  6. ^ “七成民意認同 港需溫和中間派”. Hong Kong Commercial Daily. 2015-10-07. Archived from the original on 2016-03-14.
  7. ^ “得票無增長 中間派感失望”. The Sun (Hong Kong). 2016-03-01. Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  8. ^ “險勝方國珊 梁國雄幸保尾席”. Apple Daily. 2016-09-06. Archived from the original on 2016-09-07. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  9. ^ “與功能組別當選人會面 狄志遠：感覺溫暖 陳勇：當選人全屬「超級愛國者」”. Stand News. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  10. ^ Tong, Elson (22 June 2017). “Centrist former lawmaker Ronny Tong named adviser to Hong Kong’s incoming leader Carrie Lam”. Hong Kong Free Press.
  11. ^ 梁俊彥 (2020-05-11). “梁俊彥：一朝大敗的建制派，正如何部署2020香港立法會選舉？”. 端傳媒. Archived from the original on 2020-05-26. Retrieved 2020-06-03.