Lee Wing-tat (Chinese: 李永達; born 25 December 1955) is a former Member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), returned by direct election as representative of the New Territories West constituency. He was the former third Chairman of the Democratic Party (DP). He is seen as a conservative inside the party.
In 1989, during the visit of Geoffrey Howe to Hong Kong, Lee protested at the conference and called Howe's speech "bullshit".[1]
Lee left the ADPL and formed the United Democrats of Hong Kong, 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 was 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.[2]
Chairmanship of Democratic Party
Chief Executive Election
In May 2005, Lee 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 15 June. His participation in the election faced great criticisms within the party and the pro-democracy camp.
Criticisms
Lee was criticized for suppressing 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 and included vice-chairman Chan King Ming and Gary Fan. The Young Turks later held a press conference to criticise the list of "suspects", with some even directly naming Lee as responsible.
Departure
Lee did not seek a second term as party chairman in the party's internal elections in December 2006.