What’s at stake in Hong Kong post-protest vote

HONG KONG — Hong Kongers head to the polls Sunday to choose candidates for the semiautonomous city’s Legislature, in the first major election since 2014 pro-democracy street protests.

Candidates from a new wave of activist groups that emerged in the wake of the student-led “Umbrella” or “Occupy” movement are challenging established pro-Beijing and “pan-democrat” parties for seats in the Legislative Council, or Legco.

With the nonviolent 2014 protests failing to yield any concessions from Beijing over its plan to restrict elections for the city’s top leader, many activists support more confrontational tactics and radical action.

Half of the 70 seats are not up for citywide election; they are tied to various business and trade groups, such as finance, fishing and medicine, and people in those sectors will decide who fills them.