Hong Kong voters are going to the polls in an election which could pave
the way for universal suffrage.
For the first time, more than
half the 70 seats on the governing legislative council will be directly
elected.
On Saturday, the Hong Kong
government backed down on plans to introduce mandatory Chinese patriotism
lessons, after weeks of street protests.
Anger against the Chinese
government has been growing in Hong Kong, which has a semi-autonomous status.
Polls open at 07:30 local time
(23:30 GMT on Saturday) and close at 22:30 (15:30).
The BBC's Hong Kong
correspondent, Juliana Liu, says pro-democracy candidates are expected to
benefit this year, energised by growing anger against mainland China and the
lack of political reform there.
Hong Kong, which was handed back
from Britain to China in 1997, enjoys greater political freedom than the
mainland, including a free press and the right to peaceful assembly.
The election campaign has been
dominated by issues such as patriotic education, corruption, and the growing
number of visitors from mainland China.
Our correspondent says universal
suffrage - one person, one vote - could come as early as 2017, but it needs the
support of more than half the members of the legislative council.
A strong showing by pro-democracy
candidates makes the transition more likely, our correspondent says.
Classes U-turn
For the past week, thousands of
demonstrators have camped out around Hong Kong's government headquarters,
protesting against the plan for mandatory patriotism lessons.
They said the lessons were
Communist Party propaganda and whitewashed events such as the 1989 crackdown in
Tiananmen Square and the famine under Mao Zedong.
But the government said the goal
was to foster a sense of national belonging.
The proposed curriculum, which
consisted of general civics education as well as more controversial lessons on
appreciating mainland China, was due to be introduced in primary schools in
September and secondary schools in 2013.
On Saturday, Hong Kong's chief
executive, Leung Chun-ying, said the classes would be optional for schools.
Mr Leung, who was sworn in as
Hong Kong's chief executive in July, cancelled his trip to the Apec regional
summit this weekend because of the furore.
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