Lee Wing Tat

Lee Wing Tat (Traditional Chinese: 李永達) (born December 25, 1955 in Hong Kong with family root in Huiyang, Guangdong) is currently the Chairman of the Democratic Party (DP). He is a Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), returned by direct election as representative of the Geographical Constituency of New Territories West. He is seen as a conservative inside the party.

Early life

He was elected vice-chairman of the Hong Kong University Students' Union in 1979. He graduated from the Faculty of Science of University of Hong Kong with a pass. He first participated in politics in the 1980s and was a Vice-Chairman of the Association of Democracy and People's Livelihoods (ADPL). He was elected to the District Council and the Regional Council in 1985 and 1986 respectively. He was a founding member of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. He left the ADPL and formed the United Democrats of Hong Kong (香港民主同盟，港同盟), which developed into the Democratic Party in 1994. He was elected to the Legco in the same year. He once lost his seat in the 2000 election but was re-elected in 2004. He became the vice-chairman of Democratic Party from 2002 to 2004 and was elected Chairman at the sixth AGM of the DP in succession to Yeung Sum. His challenger for the Chairman's post Chan King Ming was elected Vice-Chairman instead.

He was later caught up in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, together with his wife Josephine Chan. Fortunately, on the day of the tsunami, they did not go to the beach next to their hotel in Phuket.

Chairmanship of Democratic Party

Chief Executive Election

He declared his intention to run in the Hong Kong Chief Executive Election , but only received 52 nominations and thus failed to get on the ballot. As a result, he withdrew from the election on June 15, 2005. His participation in the election faced great criticisms within the party and the pro-democracy camp.

Criticisms

Lee had been criticized for supressing the second-tier members and Young Turks of the party. In early 2006, someone alleged to the Apple Daily that some senior members were involved in spying activities of China. The "suspects" were all Young Turks members including vice-chairman Chan King Ming and Gary Fan. The Young Turks later held a press conference to criticize the list of "suspects", some even directly point to Lee for the responsbilities.

Departure

On September 22, 2006, Lee announced that he will not seek another term for party chairmanship in the party's upcoming internal elections in December.

External link

• Personal Website

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