Pro-govt Side's Kowloon Win Is Historic: Academic

The assistant director of social science at the University of Hong Kong, Ken Yau, said that Monday's results are "historic", as never before has a pro-establishment candidate won a by-election.

Yau also said that the tight race on Hong Kong Island shows that voters are changing the way they vote.

He said the defeat of the pan-democratic camp's candidate Edward Yiu in Kowloon West shows that the camp had difficulties in finding a single candidate who could influence a wide spectrum of voters in the constituency.

Yau said he believes Yiu's lack of work in the area also was a factor in the result. He said in areas where there were a lot of poorer families, Yiu's unconventional election campaign failed to sway voters.

"It seems that it is not that effective compared with the traditional methods, particularly in those areas where there are lot of public estates," Yau said.

On the Hong Kong Island result, Yau said it shows that voters preferences were changing as the margin of victory was considerably less in a constituency where a strong middle class had in recent elections favoured the pan-democrats.

He also told RTHK's Janice Wong that the failure of pan-democrats to regain their veto power in the legislature was not very significant as the rules of procedures had already been altered by pro-government lawmakers.