New People's Party (Hong Kong)

Party beliefs

The party positions itself with the pro-Beijing camp, counting the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the pro-Beijing flagship party as a "partner". But Ip has said that it targets the "middle-class", rather than the "grass-roots". Its electorate base also largely comes from the civil service, especially retired officials from the disciplined services, due to Ip's background. The party's stated platform includes universal suffrage, economic diversification and the reduction in the wealth gap.

History

The leading figure of the New People's Party is Regina Ip, who was the then Secretary for Security and the incumbent member of the Legislative Council, as well as the chair of the think tank Savantas Policy Institute. She founded the New People's Party on 9 January 2011. Michael Tien, former vice chairman of the Liberal Party and younger brother of former Liberal Party chair James Tien, is the deputy chairman. Another deputy chairman was Louis Shih.

The party intended to field 10 candidates in the district council elections in November 2011. Candidates will include three former senior security service officers in Tony Liu Kit-ming, the soon-to-retire chairman of the Hong Kong Police Inspectors Association; Wat Ki-on, the retired former chairman of the Fire Services Department Ambulancemen's Union; and Tsui Chi-keung, the retired former chairman of the Fire Services Department Staff's General Association. It won four seats in total as a result.

Regina Ip announced her interest in running for the Chief Executive in the 2012 election, but failed to secure enough nominations to enter the race. She turned to endorse Leung Chun-ying, winner of the election. In September, Both chair Regina Ip and deputy chair Michael Tien were elected to the Legislative Council in the LegCo elections. Regina Ip was subsequently appointed by Leung Chun-ying to the Executive Council in October 2012.

The party expanded the network in the New Territories East by forming a political alliance with the Civil Force in February 2014. Civil Force leader Pun Kwok-shan was appointed Vice-Chairman of the New People's Party. With 17 Civil Force District Councillors and 2 independents joined the New People's Party, the party's seat in the District Councils jumped from 12 to 31.

In the 2015 District Council election, the NPP and Civil Force won 25 seats, while its seats in Tai Hang and Tai Koo Shing East in Hong Kong Island where Ip's base was taken by pro-democrats. Civil Force's base in Sha Tin was also lost to the pro-democrats with five veterans defeated by new faces.

The NPP scored a victory in the 2016 Legislative Council election by taking three seats in the geographical constituencies and doubled their vote share from 3.76 to 7.73 per cent. Incumbents Regina Ip and Michael Tien both received large vote share in Hong Kong Island and the New Territories West respectively with new face Eunice Yung first elected in the New Territories East despite the allegation of her being backed by the Liaison Office.

In December 2016, the party endorsed Regina Ip's second bid in the 2017 Chief Executive election. Due to the lobbying by the Liaison Office for former Chief Secretary Carrie Lam and pro-democrats' aim to send former Financial Secretary and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing into the race, Ip was squeezed out from canvassing a minimum number of 150 nominations in the 1,194-member Election Committee to enter the race for the second time. After the election, Ip said that the party may reposition itself to become less pro-establishment.