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Anson Chan, the former head of Hong Kong's civil service, has won a hotly contested and highly symbolic by-election for a seat in the city's legislature, in a vote that was widely seen as a referendum on democracy.
The victory by the 67-year-old woman dubbed "Hong Kong's conscience" by supporters was good news for the city's pro-democracy political camp, which suffered a beating in district council elections last month at the hands of the territory's biggest pro-Beijing party.
Accepting victory, a grinning Chan said the results proved that voters wanted universal suffrage by 2012, the next election for the city's leader.
"My experience on the campaign trail has convinced me even more that genuine democracy is the only way of ultimately safeguarding our freedoms and values and of building a compassionate, fair and more just society," Chan said.
- REUTERS
