All five democratic camp candidates were defeated in the first round of voting for Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress yesterday, amid claims that electors had been put under pressure not to support them.
The chairman of the Democratic Party, Martin Lee Chu-ming, said the results did not reflect the views of the people while Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, standing as an independent, claimed that some voters had been prejudiced against them.
But some voters blamed the Democrats' lack of success on their inability to communicate with the central government, and a spokesman for the committee in charge of the election described it as 'fair, impartial and open'.
It was the first time that Democrats had been able to secure enough nominations to stand as candidates. Their participation, however, was short-lived.
A total of 54 contenders were chosen in yesterday's pre-election. The next round of voting will be held on Tuesday during which 36 new local deputies will be elected.
Democrats Albert Ho Chun-yan (64 votes), James To Kun-sun (81 votes), Sin Chung-kai (74 votes) and Dr Cheung (113 votes) and Frederick Fung Kin-kee (110 votes), chairman of the Association of Democracy and People's Livelihood, were all defeated.