The 951 nominations include candidates inspired by pro-democracy protests, but pro-Beijing parties look best placed with lion's share of uncontested races
A record-high 951 nominations for the city's district council elections were received by Thursday's registration deadline, but about 15 per cent of the seats up for grabs will be uncontested.
Half of the uncontested seats went to pro-establishment parties, with the rest going to independents. None are held by pan-democrats.
The elections, set for November 22, will be the first for the city since the Occupy movement ended last year. The political parties are regarding the polls as a reflection of public opinion in the wake of the pro-democracy protests and failed political reform.
Chinese University political scientist Dr Ma Ngok said the Beijing-friendly camp was favourably positioned.
"Having fewer constituencies to worry about, pro-establishment parties can now channel more resources to the swing areas where pan-democrats have a chance of winning," he said.
Ma said the large number of uncontested seats had put pan-democratic candidates - already short on resources - in an even more difficult situation.
The phenomenon also showed the limited impact of pro-democracy groups that emerged after Occupy. They accounted for a smaller presence than expected, Ma added.
The number of bids received over the two-week nomination period was the highest since the city's handover. In the previous election, in 2011, 935 nominations were received.
A Post tally found the number of uncontested seats showed a slight drop compared with 2011, from 76 to 66. The total number of seats up for grabs is 431, up from 412 in the previous election.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong claimed the largest share of uncontested seats, with 21, followed by the New People's Party, with seven seats, and the Federation of Trade Unions, which is running in six. The Liberal Party is unopposed in two.
In all, 19 lawmakers are running in district polls; two, Alice Mak Mei-kuen and Kwok Wai-keung, will have no opposition.
Some pan-democratic heavyweights face intense battles. The Democratic Party's Albert Ho Chun-yan is in a constituency seeing one of the fiercest competitions, with six candidates.
Ho is running against former Law Society president Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, Civic Passion's Cheng Chung-tai, and independents Yuen Wai-chung, Shum Kam-tim and Cheung Wing-wai.
Civic Passion, a radical pro-democracy group, is going up against the Democratic Party in five constituencies.
While Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing criticised Civic Passion for trying to "grab their vote share", the group's leader Wong Yeung-tat said he saw the party as "part of the establishment".
The party also faced challenges in at least five constituencies from at least two groups arising from Occupy.
Pro-democracy lawmakers Emily Lau Wai-hing (centre) supports fellow democrats to refuse bail. Photo: K.Y. ChengMa said the impact made by the Occupy groups was not deep as he found they merely covered some 20 constituencies, compared with the many more Beijing-loyalist candidates who are going uncontested.
"Most of the candidates from the post-Occupy groups do not have a great chance of winning," he added. "A number of [pan-democratic] candidates are also running for the seats just for the sake of not letting the pro-establishment figures go uncontested, but in fact they pose almost no threat to their opponents."
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1868213/hong-kong-district-council-elections-see-record-number
