Pro-democracy parties prevail in LegCo election

Hong Kong's pro-democracy candidates rode a wave of strong anti-China sentiment to emerge with a small but decisive minority in the Legislative Council after Sunday's election.

This means that pro-democracy legislators will have the power to veto constitutional amendments ahead of a key debate about universal suffrage in the next four years. Beijing has promised universal suffrage to Hong Kong in 2017.

Pro-democracy candidates won 24 of the 65 seats counted so far. They won 18 of the 35 directly elected geographical constituencies and six of the 30 functional constituencies not chosen by popular vote.

Despite the outcome, re-elected pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan described the results as “very disappointing.”

He noted that pro-democracy candidates competed for seats in multiple party lists that reflected divisions within the movement. This split the pro-democracy votes and helped pro-Beijing candidates win.

The Civic Party with five seats, up from four previously, overtook the Democratic Party as the biggest pro-democracy party in the LegCo. The Democratic Party lost half of its eight seats, a result that forced chairman Albert Ho to make an emotional apology to the party faithful.

On the pro-Beijing side, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong is the biggest winner with at least 12 seats.

Sixteen seats went to pro-Beijing and pro-business candidates allied to Hong Kong's government while one went to an independent. Turnout in the geographic constituencies was 53% or 1.8 million voters compared to the 45% in the last election in 2008. Seventy seats were contested in the election.

The election followed a weekend decision by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to scrap a three-year deadline for the introduction of the Chinese identity lessons after black-clad protesters protested at government headquarters for 10 days.

Discontent in Hong Kong has also risen as an influx of mainland Chinese fueled a surge in property prices; flooded the city with tourists, and led to competition for hospital beds in maternity wards.

Leung’s reversal marked his third policy change announced in just as many days. He previously cancelled his trip to the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to quell protests over China’s “patriotic education” curriculum.