Founding The ADPL was founded on 26 October 1986 as a political organisation by a group of incumbent
Urban Councillors,
District Board members, members from mainly four grassroots organisations and professionals, the
Association for Democracy and Justice, the Society for Social Research, the
New Hong Kong Society, the
Hong Kong People's Council on Public Housing Policy, the Septentrio Academy and the Sham Shui Po Residents Livelihood Concern Group. The founding chairman was
Ding Lik-kiu and vice-chairmen were
Frederick Fung and
Lee Wing-tat.
Late colonial period Initially, the ADPL engaged in the
electoral reform debate, advocating direct
election of the legislature in 1988. It supported the liberal proposals put forward by the
Group of 190 coalition. The ADPL was one of the three major pro-democracy groups and performed fairly well in the local and municipal elections the 1980s with its strategic allies the
Meeting Point and the
Hong Kong Affairs Society. At its peak, it had 140 members, 28 District Board members, one Legislative Councillor, 5 municipal councillors. In 1990, some leading figures of the ADPL such as vice-chairmen Lee Wing-tat and
Albert Chan joined the
United Democrats of Hong Kong, which later became the
Democratic Party. The ADPL retained its separate identity, arguing that it represented grassroots interests whereas the United Democrats were more focused on the middle class. However, as many members joined the new party, the ADPL's membership dropped significantly to only 70 members, 15 District Board members and two municipal councillors. As the ADPL chairman Frederick Fung was elected to the Legislative Council in the
1991 direct election and other members were elected to municipal councils, the ADPL stabilised and matured from a political organisation to a political party in 1992. It won one seat in the
first direct election of the
Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) in 1991 when Fung was elected. In the
1995 election, the party won four seats. At the time, due to near-parity of representation between the
pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps in Legco, the stance of the moderate ADPL was influential and often pivotal on controversial issues. On the issue of the establishment of the
Provisional Legislative Council, the ADPL initially opposed but then agreed to join the interim body. This led to a group of 16 members leaving to form the Social Democratic Front. ADPL became the only pro-democracy party in the legislature immediately after the establishment of the HKSAR, keeping four members in the interim body. ADPL members also served on the
Preparatory Committee for the establishment of the HKSAR.
After 1997 The ADPL lost all its seats in the
1998 Legco election. In the
2000 election, long-time chairman Frederick Fung recovered his directly elected seat in Legco for the ADPL. At the district level, ADPL traditionally enjoyed a concentration of support in the
Sham Shui Po District, with numerous seats across other District councils in the 1990s but it largely lost its influence outside of Sham Shui Po in the early 2000s. The party's seats mainly concentrated in Sham Shui Po, followed by
Yau Tsim Mong and
Kowloon City Districts in Kowloon West, where Frederick Fung retook his Legco seat in, as well as
Wong Tai Sin and Tuen Mun. Following a poor showing in the
2007 District Council elections, Fung resigned as chairman and was replaced by
Bruce Liu. The ADPL supported the
controversial electoral reform package which created five seats in the
District Council (Second) functional constituencies which are nominated by District Councillors and elected by all registered voters. In a pan-democrat
primary, Fung stood in the
2012 Chief Executive election but was defeated by the Democratic Party's
Albert Ho. He was subsequently re-elected in the new constituency in the
2012 Legco election.
Tam Kwok-kiu, however, failed to succeed Fung in
Kowloon West, the ADPL's stronghold, its first loss there since 1998. In the
2015 District Council election, the ADPL won 18 seats while veteran Frederick Fung lost his seat in
Lai Kok to Chan Wing-yan of the
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU). Former party member Eric Wong Chung-ki also contested the constituency. On 23 January 2016,
Rosanda Mok, former vice-chairman of the party, was elected the party's first female chairperson.
Ousted from the LegCo and split Fung ran in the
New Territories West after losing his eligibility to run in District Council (Second) in the
2016 Legislative Council election, while his party colleague Tam Kwok-kiu ran in Kowloon West for the second time.
Kalvin Ho, a new Sham Shui Po District Councillor represented the ADPL to run in the District Council (Second). Both Fung and Tam lost in the election while Ho withdrew from the campaign to boost other pro-democrat candidates' chance to win. As a result, the ADPL was ousted from the legislature for the second time. Rosanda Mok resigned for the election defeat. In December, the party elected
Sze Tak-loy as its new chairman. Around the end of 2016, the ADPL's six district councillors, which included all its members from
Yau Tsim Mong District Council and
Kowloon City District Council, quit the party in a disputes concerning the intra-party primary for the
March 2018 Kowloon West by-election, in which Frederick Fung intended to run, leaving the ADPL with only 12 District Councillors. Kalvin Ho, who also intended to run in the primary, later withdrew. As the party resolved to nominate Fung, former chairperson Rosanda Mok also left the party in June 2017. After losing to
Yiu Chung-yim in the primary, Fung announced he would not become the backup candidate if Yiu's candidacy was disqualified amid alleged pressure from the progressive democrats forcing him to withdraw. On 12 July 2018, Fung announced his departure from the ADPL amid speculation that he was going to run for the
November Kowloon West by-election as the party intended to back
Lau Siu-lai.
Post National Security Law Chairman
Kalvin Ho and vice-chairman
Sze Tak-loy was charged with subversion under the National Security Law in
2021, resigned respectively later after bail granted by court. Yeung Yuk became the acting chairman of ADPL. On 15 October 2021, amidst a crackdown on pro-Democracy political parties and organizations after the enactment of the
Hong Kong national security law in 2020, the ADPL allowed members to sign up and contest in the
2021 Hong Kong legislative election. While Bruce Liu signaled his interest in running again for the seat, none of the members signed up. The defeat of all moderates and democrats in the election marked by low turnout pressured Yeung, who supported
Frederick Fung in the campaign and angered some pro-democracy activists, to resign as the acting chair of the party, citing his wish to focus on local issues. Bruce Liu was elected as the new chairman on 16 April 2022. ADPL intended to join the elections by filling two candidates in the
2023 District Council elections after the
election system was overhauled, but neither of the candidates was able to get nominations from the members of the "three committees", many of which came from the pro-Beijing parties. Bruce Liu said that the ADPL has entered the "desert stage", describing the current regional administration as being like Shenzhen's system. The party planned to convene a press conference to discuss the aftermath of the 2025
Wang Fuk Court fire, but was cancelled after the chairperson Liu and vice-chairman Howard Lee was brought to the police station by the national security police. ==Electoral performance==