Significant victories for Hong Kong's 'umbrella soldiers' in district council elections

While some so-called "umbrella soldiers" pulled off surprise election wins, analysts warned it is too early to conclude their success is due to a surge of support from young first-time voters.

Observers say the impact of 186,000 newly registered voters this year remains to be seen, but the message behind the results is clear - electors are fed up with underperformers and old faces, and want change.

Dr James Sung Lap-kung, a political scientist at City University, admitted he had previously underestimated the umbrella soldiers, referring to young Occupy activists who took part in the elections in a bid to push for more democracy from within.

They ended up taking at least seven seats in Sunday's poll. Sung said their wins were "clear indication" that young, first-time voters had played a powerful role.

But Dr Chung Kim-wah, associate professor at Polytechnic University's department of applied social sciences, said it was too early to jump to conclusions.

"Because of the unexpectedly good performances of some so-called umbrella soldiers, some may think it was because many first-time young voters came out to vote for those candidates. But we should not overlook that the increase in young newly registered voters is not as high as that in older newly registered voters."

Of the newly registered electors, some 85,000 were aged 61 or older, while 41,000 were aged between 18 and 35.