It was the first elections to be held after the abolition of the appointed seats as proposed by the new electoral arrangements, as the last step of the democratisation by the then Governor Chris Patten before the handover.

Despite set against the British-Chinese dispute over Hong Kong's political reform, the election was influenced by local issues such as bus fares and garbage collection.

Almost 700,000 votes cast were 60 per cent more than in the previous election and reflect the broader franchise stemming from Patten's reform package.

[1] Under the Patten reform package, the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21, appointed members were abolished, and District Board members were given responsibility of filling ten of the 60 Legislative Council seats through Election Committee constituency in the 1995 Legislative Council election.

[1] After the elections, Beijing appointed 200 District Affairs Advisers as the part of establishing a political structure parallel to that of the British one, as it claimed that Patten's reform violated the constitution and Sino-British agreements.