Not as great a success for the anti-Beijing Democrats as they would have hoped, ending up with 24 seats in a legislative chamber of 60 seats where 30 are appointed ensuring their pro-Beijing stance (note that the Democrats picked up only 18 of the directly elected seats).

Simon is right to note that the record turn-out, a paltry 53%, probably signifies the lack of confidence Hong Kongers have in the current arrangements, but turn-out for these events was low even under British rule. Still it’s an uptick from the 40-45% zone where it used to be and that may point to more democratic awareness in the fragrant harbour, however the results would point to the fact that when it is crunch time there is not an awful lot of appetite to rock the boat. The Democrats must be disappointed and Beijing can be pleased, sit back and point with some glee to the results.

It's an interesting sign that Hong Kong is starting to mature as a democracy and is learning some of the old tricks practiced in the free West: one of the Democratic contestants became the focus of negative campaigning when he was arrested after patronizing a prostitute and the Beijing camp benefited from a mainland charm offensive. Once more evidence that somehow it pays to let issues be issues and focus on good old election manipulators. In any case I am glad that Albert Cheng got voted in.

For now things will remain pretty much as they are although it may inspire some adventurers in Beijing to reintroduce some unpopular stuff in Hong Kong by pointing to this election result.