Hong Kong's deeply unpopular leader vowed Monday to "listen humbly" to voters after the pro-democracy camp scored a crushing victory in community-level elections that revealed broad public support for a protest movement that has stirred months of violence.
In a rout that stunned the semi-autonomous territory, candidates seeking to loosen control by China seized an overwhelming majority of the 452 elected seats in the city's 18 district councils, bodies that have historically been firmly in the grip of a Beijing-aligned establishment.
The result, the first vote to be held since protests engulfed the city, was a humiliating rebuke to Beijing and Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
She has stubbornly dismissed calls for political reform and repeatedly suggested that a silent majority supported her administration and opposed the protest movement.
"The government will certainly listen humbly to citizens' opinions and reflect on them seriously," Lam said in a statement issued by the government.
But she gave no specifics on the likely response.