Electoral officers finally announced the last batch of results from the labour subsector at 7.35am, 13½ hours after polling stations closed.

While the delay drew the ire of candidates and embarrassed the government, and critics questioned the representativeness of the entire exercise, Beijing’s liaison office in the city hailed it as marking a “major step in Hong Kong’s democratic development with its own characteristics”.

“The election helped to set Hong Kong on a path away from the ‘vortex of pan-politicisation’ and to promote the rational development of electoral culture. It also marked a solid and genuine step in advancing democracy and good governance,” the liaison office said.

The State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office described the poll as symbolic in that it represented a full implementation of the “patriots governing Hong Kong” principle.

“We are glad that all walks of life in Hong Kong have recognised the new electoral system, [that residents] say the new system … can avoid meaningless politicised conflicts and social infighting,” a spokesman said.

The next step for the Election Committee will be the appointment of its chief convenor, who must be a state leader, and who is empowered to pick several convenors for each sector who can call together members when necessary.

Hong Kong currently has two officials eligible for the top role: Tung Chee-hwa and Leung Chun-ying, both former chief executives who serve as vice-chairmen of the nation’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

As part of Beijing’s shake-up of the system, the Election Committee – originally tasked only with picking the chief executive – was expanded by 300 seats and empowered to both nominate lawmakers and place 40 legislators, some or all of whom can be from within its own ranks, in office.

The opposition’s one-time hopes of becoming “kingmakers” in the city’s leadership race were dashed after Beijing drastically slashed the number of individual votes in the Election Committee poll, replacing them with corporate votes representing organisations and companies.

The changes also allowed a greater number of seats to be appointed or hand-picked by a small group of pro-establishment figures or groups.

‘Patriots’ now in charge, but ‘lazy’ candidates need to shape up, analyst says

In-depth analysis of the race suggested at least two dozen candidates who failed to run on one of the coordinated lists – teams of candidates believed to have Beijing’s blessing – or who had signed up for the race independently at the last minute failed to get through.

They included Cao Weiyong, who won a mere 18 votes in one of three commercial subsectors, while the remaining 17 winners each secured between 80 and 86.

In the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape subsector, veteran architect Ivan Fu Chin-shing, a first-time contestant who was not on the 15-strong list of fellow trade members dubbed “Offering & Promising”, lost the race after earning only 29 votes. The members on the list swept every available seat, taking 44 to 53 votes each.

Fu told the Post that he had joined the race to “test the waters” and that his fate might provide clues to others about whether the revamped polls were worth taking part in.

“I have done my best to provide a choice for voters. It’s up to them whether to pick me to speak for the industry,” he said. “My defeat might allow potential candidates in the future to consider prudently whether they should join the race.”

Only one of two opposition-leaning candidates won a seat. After securing 55 votes from 144 voters in the social welfare subsector, centrist Tik Chi-yuen found himself in a draw with two other candidates and just two seats left unfilled. A draw of numbers in the early hours finally settled the matter in Tik’s favour.

Francis Chau Yin-ming, another pro-opposition hopeful in the subsector, lost after earning just 37 votes as other winners bagged at least 55 each.

Several candidates said they were shocked that Chau lost by such a large margin considering his standing in the profession and that he had already served on the Election Committee four times.

One candidate who declined to be named said: “Rather than professionalism, political inclination might have become the most important consideration when they voted.”

Just how will Hong Kong’s new Election Committee flex its muscles?

Professor Emeritus Cecilia Chan Lai-wan, of the University of Hong Kong’s social work and social administration department who ran alongside Chau, lost the race with 51 votes. She has been a committee member since 2000 and was consistently among the candidates who secured the most votes in the subsector.

Chan admitted lobbying was more challenging now because under the revamped structure seats were decided by corporate votes, meaning she had to approach board directors of groups whom she did not know well, instead of trade members as in the past.

“We need time to reflect and learn the new game rules,” she said, while stopping short of saying whether she would run again.

Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, said Beijing should be pleased with the election outcome and process, which drew a turnout of nearly 90 per cent.

But political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the results showed Beijing was unconcerned about whether opposition figures played a role in elections, including in the Legislative Council poll scheduled for December.

“It is quite different from Beijing officials’ earlier reassurance that the electoral reform is not meant to make politicians homogeneous,” he said.

Choy said the Election Committee race, which turned out to be highly coordinated, might discourage trade members with strong professional reputations from running in the future, as they now realised their chance of success was slim if they were not on the “coordinated lists”.

He argued it was meaningless for the pro-establishment camp to hail the high turnout of the race given the small voter base and that the Legco poll would be a better gauge of voter enthusiasm.

Earlier on Monday morning, Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Barnabas Fung Wah apologised for the delay in vote counting, admitting the time needed had “far exceeded reasonable expectations”.

“Our staff were not flexible enough when executing procedures and did not seek help immediately. We must review problems thoroughly in the vote-counting process,” he said, pledging to submit a report to the government.