In one of the most hotly contested elections in Hong Kong this generation, Anson Chan Fang On-sang defeated her arch-rival Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee by a margin of 5,000 votes in the Legislative Council by-elections, avenging the democratic camp after a series of losses to pro-Beijing parties in recent district council polls. Chan campaigned for democracy and universal suffrage, an important issue at the heart of the population within the Special Administrative Region.
Undoubtedly, the fact that Ip played a huge role back in 2003 during the Article 23 saga (as a reminder, Article 23 states that "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies," which may be the root of all problem in democratic Hong Kong) didn't help her much in the eyes of Hong Kong-ers.
The turnout rate was 52%, the largest since the 2004 election (which again Hong Kong people came out to express their frustration after Article 23), because both frontrunners, Chan and Ip, had well-defined images representing the pan-democrats and the pro-Beijing lobby, respectively. Seems like Hong Kong is one step closer to universal suffrage, albeit a fragile one.
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