A few voters said Sunday the democracy movement had motivated them to cast their ballot.
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Pro-Beijing candidates, who are casting themselves as a force for stability, blame pro-democracy campaigners for disrupting life in the financial hub.
This election saw the rise and fall of political stars.
The government said about 1.468 million registered electors, representing a cumulative turnout rate of about 47 percent, had cast their votes.
The election will have a higher turnout than the 41.5 per cent witnessed in 2011, according to a poll by the University of Hong Kong.
The biggest giant-slayer was 46-year old Chui Chi-kin, inspired by the Occupy movement, and who only made a decision to run on the last day of the nomination period, as an independent candidate. Fung and Ho had won the most votes in the last Legislative Council election in 2012.
“I feel an urge to let the ruling power know our voice no matter how little power we have over our political destiny”, said Elvis Lam, 25, a healthcare worker voting in the Southern district for the first time.
“The younger democrats are testing their strength”, Professor Sonny Lo of the Hong Kong Institute of Education told Agence France- Presse.
Known as the Umbrella Movement, the student-led protests aimed to accelerate the pace of reforms in the former British colony.
In this instance, the protests failed to persuade Beijing to withdraw a plan for electing Hong Kong’s chief executive.
The rallies were sparked after Beijing insisted candidates for the planned first public vote for Hong Kong’s leader in 2017 would have to be vetted by a loyalist committee.
Both pro-democrat “yellow ribbons” and pro-establishment “blue ribbons” were going out to vote, and there were a lot of new faces at polling stations whose sides were unclear, he said.
This new generation of pro-democracy campaigners unexpectedly won a handful of seats in Hong Kong’s District Council elections following the vote on Sunday (Nov 22) despite the odds: hampered by a lack of resources and name recognition against their more established counterparts.
A district council seat is also important for political heavyweights as an “entry ticket” to the Legislative Council election through the five superseats.
“Already suffering from factional strife and loss of direction in the fight for democracy, the pan-democrats may take a severe beating if they suffer serious setback in the polls”, Chris Yeung, founder of Express HK, said. “I just see a need for opposition to counterbalance the pro-Beijing camp”.
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For others, commitment in community work is more important than political affiliation. Apart from 68 politicians who won uncontested, 867 candidates were running for the remaining 363 seats. “The district council should not be over-politicized”, said Monica Ho, a retired secretary voting in Wong Tai Sin district.
