How will Hong Kong pro-democracy protests affect district elections?

The Occupy Central protests sparked a fierce tussle between the two sides of the political divide. Pan-democrats hailed a "civic awakening" while their pro-establishment rivals mobilised supporters to condemn the 79-day street blockade as an affront to the rule of law.

Yet more than a month after the sit-ins ended, both camps are reluctant to say whether the civil disobedience campaign will help or hinder them in the first big electoral test of the post-Occupy era - November's district council elections. In a rare note of agreement, both camps say events to come will have a bigger effect on voters, while the extent to which a political awakening among the city's youth will lead them to turn out to vote remains unclear.

The pro-establishment camp dominates all 18 district councils, holding about half of the 412 directly elected seats. More than 80 are in the hands of pan-democrats. Independents hold the rest, while the councils also contain 95 ex officio or appointed members. While councils have little formal power, they will play a key role in next year's Legislative Council election, at which six seats go to district councillors including five so-called super seats, elected in a citywide ballot of three million voters.

On the pan-democratic side, Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood chairman Bruce Liu Sing-lee fears a "landslide" loss for the camp.

"The umbrella movement was a double-edged sword: residents support its fight for democracy, but it also blocked road traffic [in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok]," Liu said. "The district councils deal with lots of livelihood issues, which were not helped by the movement."

However, Democratic Party lawmaker and Wong Tai Sin district councillor Wu Chi-wai says it is too early to call.