A record turnout was expected in yesterday's legislative council elections in Hong Kong, which the territory's Democratic Party has billed as "a referendum on democracy."
Analysts say the turnout could be in excess of 60 percent, beating the previous record turnout of 53 percent in 1998, a year after Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule by Britain.
By 4:30pm, nearly one million voters -- 30 percent of Hong Kong's 3.2 million registered voters -- had cast their ballots with six hours remaining until polling stations closed.
Yesterday's election for the 30 directly-elected seats in the legislature comes just two months after 530,000 people marched through the streets of Hong Kong demanding universal suffrage.
Yeung Sum (楊森), head of the Democratic Party, which is expected to win the greatest share of the vote, called the election "a referendum on Hong Kong's democracy."
After a bruising campaign marred by alleged dirty tricks, he told his supporters on the eve of voting: "A vote for the pro-democracy camp is tantamount to voting for universal suffrage."
Pro-democracy legislators hold the greatest share of directly-elected seats on Hong Kong's legislative council and are expected to maintain their dominance.
However, pro-China legislators are likely to maintain control because 30 more seats in so-called functional constituencies are picked by an election committee and largely pro-Beijing professional interest groups.
A total of 88 candidates are contesting the 30 directly elected seats in a contest seen as a battle between the Democratic Party and the main pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance.
The turnout at yesterday's election appeared on course to far exceed that of the last legislative council election four years ago, when voter turnout was only 43.5 percent.
Since then, the political temperature in Hong Kong has risen considerably with mass protests and China intervening in May to say there will be no universal suffrage for at least the next four years.
Political scientist James Sung of Hong Kong's City University predicted the turnout could be in excess of 60 percent and said a high turnout would favor pro-democracy candidates.
A report by Human Rights Watch released last week described the political atmosphere in Hong Kong as "toxic" and accused Beijing of meddling in the election.
After casting his vote yesterday morning, Hong Kong's deputy leader Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) emphasized how the election represented a milestone for Hong Kong as the number of directly-elected seats had been increased from 24 to 30.
Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed leader Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) was booed and jeered by a small group of protesters when he cast his ballot.
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