Opinion | Democrats' by-election defeat was on the cards long before a vote was cast
Albert Cheng believes the outcome had more to do with the party's political baggage and tarnished reputation than rise of radical forces
The dust has settled on the Southern District Council by-election with the seat going to Judy Chan Ka-pui of the pro-establishment New People's Party. She got 2,023 votes.
The other two candidates, the Democratic Party's Sin Chung-kai and People Power's Erica Yuen Mi-ming received 920 and 1,083 votes respectively.
After the result, some media and political commentators came up with a superficial analysis, claiming that it showed radical democratic forces are replacing those from the mild democratic camp, which should sound alarm bells for the latter.
They further deduced that this would hinder negotiations on political reform, making it even more difficult to form a consensus.
We can set aside, for now, the debate about whether the by-election outcome will affect political reform talks. However, it's clearly not true to claim that the result indicates the rise of radical democratic powers.
In fact, South Horizons West is a traditional middle-class constituency, which means the majority of voters are conservative.
