国内英语新闻:HKSAR completes sixth-term district council election

HONG KONG, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The counting of ballots in the Sixth-term District Council Ordinary Election of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has completed as of Monday noon.

Polling for the election started at 7:30 a.m. local time and concluded at 10:30 p.m. local time on Sunday. According to the HKSAR Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC), 452 seats of 18 electoral districts have all been decided.

District councils are organizations at the district level that advise the HKSAR government on matters affecting the well-being of the residents and participate in the management of district affairs.

The district council election is the first poll held in the HKSAR after the now-withdrawn ordinance amendments concerning fugitives' transfers sparked unrest in Hong Kong.

In the past more than five months, rioters, in concert with external forces, have continuously committed and escalated violence, resulting in social and political confrontation, rift in social sentiment and setbacks in economy and people's livelihood. Months of social unrest has seriously disrupted the electoral process.

On the election day, some rioters harassed patriotic candidates. The most pressing task for Hong Kong at present is still to bring the violence and chaos to an end and restore order.