[1] Founded in 1990, the short-lived party was the united front of the liberal democracy forces in preparation of the 1991 first ever direct election for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.

In pursuit of these aims, the party strived The United Democrats had a large labour component among its top leadership.

As early as 1988, the pro-democratic groups including the Meeting Point, the Hong Kong Affairs Society (HKAS) and the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), the three major pro-democracy groups at the time had already formed the Joint Committee on the Promotion of Democratic Government (JCPDG) for the 1988 direction election for the Legislative Council.

It was headed by barrister Martin Lee, as well as Szeto Wah who remained the leader of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China.

However the fight for the candidacy led to many members returning to their original organisations, such as Meeting Point's Li Wah-ming, Zachary Wong and Tik Chi-yuen.

The United Democrats supported Chris Patten, the last Governor's controversial reform proposal which largely broadened the franchise and heavily criticised by Beijing.

After the reform proposal was passed, the Beijing government set up the 57-member Preliminary Working Committee (PWC) for the preparation works of the establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and planning for an alternative body, the Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) to the 1995 elected legislature under Patten's proposal.