India, Dec. 1 -- Hong Kong witnessed an unprecedented democratic exercise last week. The results of the just concluded elections for 18 District Councils in the city can at best be termed as an affront to China. The Opposition won 392 of the 452 elected seats in all the District Councils. The pro-Beijing parties could bag only 60 seats. And this happened to the Government allies despite having strong backing from the city administration and from the Central Government in the mainland China. Thus the election outcomes manifest a clear mandate for the pro-democracy groups and parties for a forceful say in the political-economic set-up in Hong Kong.

The results were recorded as a historic low for the pro-Government political parties as they...