The Yau Tsim Mong District Board became Yau Tsim Mong Provisional District Board after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was established in 1997 with the appointment system being reintroduced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

The conservative independents dominated in the district as the lack of public housing estates made it difficult for the political parties to develop their community networks.

The Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL), the Democratic Party and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) had been the three major parties which had continuing presence in the district, until in the 2007 election in which the DAB took a total number of seven seats, far ahead of the Democratic Party's one seat and ADPL which lost all their seats.

Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) Legislative Councillor Priscilla Leung's Kowloon West New Dynamic also absorbed numbers of conservative independents following the 2015 election and became the second largest party in the council.

However, the pro-Beijing parties suffered major setbacks in the 2019 election amid the massive pro-democracy protests, while a pro-democracy local political group Community March emerged as the largest party in the council with the pro-democrats controlling the council for the first time.