Damon Pang reports
The nominating period has begun on Friday for next month's District Council elections.
There are 431 seats up for grabs. For the first time since the handover in 1997, there are no appointed seats, although nearly 30 rural leaders will automatically become councillors.
There are currently 68 appointed seats in the District Council. The government has been phasing out the seats, which some groups had criticised as undemocratic.
The elections are expected to be highly competitive, even within the pan-democratic camp. Groups formed after last year's Occupy protests – some of which don't see themselves as allies of some of the major pro-democracy parties – are also scrambling for votes.
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1214882-20151002.htm
