These are low level positions like city Councillors, they handle local issues like where bus stops are located and such, but Beijing is NOT happy. Pro-Democracy candidates won 347 out of 452 seats and they now have majorities in 17 out of 18 Districts. Before the election the pro-Beijing camp held 298 seats and had majorites in all 18 districts to give an idea of how bad this went for them.
This is important for 3 reasons
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These district council positions are elected via universal suffrage, unlike 50% of the legislature or the Chief Executive and the people have spoken. Beijing's narrative that the protesters and their supporters were a small vocal minority has been blown out of the water.
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There are Legislative Council elections next year (this body has actual political power in Hong Kong) 50% of the 70 member body are elected and 50% are appointed. Of the 35 appointments, 5 come from members of the District councils! This means that if the pro-Democracy camp can ride this wave of popularity they have a chance of controlling the legislature next year
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Members of the District Council and and Legislative Council are part of the 1200 member "electoral college" for selective the next Chief Executive - though Business interests dominate the Election Committee and they lean pro-Beijing, and Beijing must approve any candidate so it's unlikely a non pro-Beijing candidate will be Chief Executive any time soon
Anyway, I thought this was interesting news, and we'll see how Xinnie the Pooh reacts
