Hong Kong's pan-democratic parties face dilemmas in November poll
The second part of a series previewing November's poll looks at the questions the Occupy protests pose for the pan-democratic camp
To politicise or not to politicise? That's the dilemma facing pan-democratic parties as Hongkongers go to the polls in November for the first time since last year's Occupy protests.
Some in the camp are keen to build on the passion generated by the 79 day sit-ins by focusing on big questions of democracy and Beijing's influence in the city. Many see parallels to 2003, when pan-democrats secured an overwhelming victory in the district council polls just months after 500,000 people took to the streets to fight a national security law.
But others - mindful of the fact that many voters resented the youth-led protests and the disruption they brought - feel it would be better to run on a track record of hard work in the community rather than on grand questions of universal suffrage.
The former strategy is reflected in the mushrooming number of new groups of young people looking to take the momentum of the umbrella movement forward by chasing some of the 431 seats on 18 councils that are up for grabs on November 22.
But incumbent district councillors - and even one of the founders of the Occupy Central movement - are not convinced.
"The Occupy protests somehow affected voters' impression of pan-democrats, but such negative sentiments have been fading out," one district councillor said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss his strategy. "We believe we could still win back these people's support, especially when [Chief Executive] Leung Chun-ying continues to make inappropriate remarks on democracy … but politicising the election would only remind people of the inconvenience brought by the sit-ins."
