Hong Kong heads to the polls in District Council elections

Marking the first test of city’s political sentiment after the Occupy protests, yesterday’s District Council elections saw nearly 900 candidates vie for over 350 seats in 18 councils.
According to the South China Morning Post, as of 9.30pm yesterday, the turnout rate hit 43.65 per cent, higher than the rate of 38.54 per cent at the same time in the 2011 district council elections.
The elections were also the first since pan-democrats voted down the controversial Beijing-backed political reforms that could have allowed Hongkongers to choose the chief executive election in 2017, the newspaper noted.
It added that a total of 495 ordinary polling stations and 24 dedicated polling stations were open across the territory for about 3.12 million registered electors to cast their votes up until 10.30pm.
There were 867 candidates competing for 363 seats this year. The results are expected to outline if the pro-democracy occupy movement last year has any impact on the political landscape.
Former ‘Umbrella Soldiers’ in last year’s 79-day Occupy protests were among a host of new candidates who had been lobbying across the SAR.
The results, expected to be announced late yesterday, will provide insight into how a Legislative Council election due next year and a controversial leadership poll in 2017 could pan out.