The single-constituency single-vote system was replaced by the
party-list proportional representation system for the
first SAR Legislative Council election designed by Beijing to reward the weaker
pro-Beijing candidates and dilute the electoral strength of the majority
pro-democrats. Five seats were allocated to New Territories East, where popular democrat legislator
Emily Lau of
The Frontier topped the poll by winning more than 30 per cent of the popular vote with
Cyd Ho also being elected. Although relatively weak in the region, the pro-democracy
Democratic Party's
Andrew Cheng also won a seat, while the pro-Beijing
Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB)
Lau Kong-wah whose
Civil Force (CF) had a strong presence in
Sha Tin District, also won a seat. The last seat was taken by former
Legislative Council President Andrew Wong, beating pro-business
Liberal Party chairman
Allen Lee. In the
2000 Legislative Council election, Cyd Ho switched to
Hong Kong Island. Her vacancy was taken up by Democrat
Wong Sing-chi who led a separate ticket targeting
North District and
Tai Po District, while Andrew Cheng targeted Sha Tin District and
Sai Kung District. Two extra seats were added to New Territories East in
2004 election, in which the pro-democrats formed a star-dubbed "7.1 United Front" ticket which aimed at winning five seats riding on the pro-democracy wave from the
2003 mass demonstration. However only the first three candidates, Andrew Cheng, Emily Lau and
Ronny Tong were elected, while the fourth candidate Wong Sing-chi was ousted. The DAB ticket also won two seats with
Li Kwok-ying of the rural background also won a new seat.
James Tien of the Liberal Party who was at the peak of his popularity from his opposition to the
Basic Law Article 23 legislation contested in the constituency for the first time, while socialist activist "Long Hair"
Leung Kwok-hung won the last seat, unexpectedly ousting Andrew Wong. James Tien lost his re-election in the
2008 Legislative Council election as the Liberal Party's popularity declined, and was replaced by Wong Sing-chi. Leung Kwok-hung of the
League of Social Democrats (LSD) rose to the top of the poll among the pro-democrats and Emily Lau dropped to the last. Lau decided to merge the Frontier into the Democratic Party after the party and became its vice chairwoman. In 2010 Leung Kwok-hung resigned from his office to trigger a
by-election as part of the
de facto "Five Constituencies Referendum" to pressure the government on the
2012 constitutional reform package. Leung was re-elected with a low turnout due to the government and pro-Beijing boycott, while Emily Lau's Democratic Party brokered a compromise with the Beijing authorities over the reform proposal, which increased the seats of the Legislative Council from 30 to 35, making the number of the seats in New Territories East from seven to nine. In the
2012 Legislative Council election, the Democrats put forward an offensive strategy by fielding three tickets hoping to retain their current three seats. However with the radical democrats' ferocious attacks on their compromised position on the electoral reform, the Democrats retained only Emily Lau's seat while
People Power's
Raymond Chan and
Neo Democrats'
Gary Fan who quit the Democratic Party each won a seat. The DAB retained their two seats by splitting their ticket into two, each led by
Chan Hak-kan and
Elizabeth Quat.
Fernando Cheung of the
Labour Party and James Tien of the Liberal Party also returned to the Legislative Council through New Territories East. Over the debate on the
2016/2017 constitutional reform proposal, Civic Party moderate
Ronny Tong resigned over his difference with the party and triggered a
February 2016 by-election. Although Civic
Alvin Yeung defeated DAB's
Holden Chow,
Edward Leung of the
pro-independence Hong Kong Indigenous (HKI) received a better-than-expected results which boosted the
localist camp morale. Edward Leung was later on
barred from running in the
September 2016 general election an instead supported
Youngspiration's
Baggio Leung who was elected. While
Lam Cheuk-ting succeeded Emily Lau who was retiring,
New People's Party's
Eunice Yung who was supported by Civil Force ousted Gary Fan. Baggio Leung was soon disqualified from the office due to his
oath-taking controversy, followed by Leung Kwok-hung who was also disqualified for his oath-taking manner. A
by-election was held in March 2018, where Gary Fan made a comeback by defeating
Tang Ka-piu of the pro-Beijing
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU). However, Fan was later unseated by the court in December 2019, as the court viewed pro-independence candidate
Ventus Lau's disqualification in the by-election was unlawful. ==Returned members==