The government is ready to work with all political parties and newly-elected District Councilors to serve the interests of the community, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam said Monday in Hong Kong.

"It is a cardinal principle of political party involvement in any community that the choices of the people are paramount," he said.

Noting the record-high voter turnout, Lam said the government, candidates and political parties had done a great deal to promote the election.

Political parties have associated themselves more closely with the public and attracted new blood into their ranks to better serve the community and to participate more actively in elections, he added.

Lam said Hong Kong people are now more accustomed to the electoral process and to expressing their views.

"Political events make politics," he said, adding that the July 1 demonstration and the election were important political highlights of 2003.

In Sunday's 2003 District Council Elections, the Democratic Party (DP) snatched 95 seats; and the Association for Democracy and the People's Livelihood won 19 seats.

The Hong Kong Progressive Alliance won 20 seats, while The Frontier captured six seats in the race. The Liberal Party secured 12 seats and the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) won 62 seats.

James Tien, chairman of the Liberal Party, observed that the July 1 effect played a role in the election.

Although the DAB has won far fewer seats, it has secured more votes in several constituencies than in the previous election, said Timothy Wong, research officer and director of the telephone survey programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

For this reason, the DAB cannot be said to be floundering, as the 250,000 people who did not vote last time turned the outcome around in this election.

"Their voting intention is different from those of past voters who judged the candidates by their performance."

Ma Ngok, an associate social science professor at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, noted that the DAB lost to the DP in many constituencies. The reason, he said, was because the voters were not happy with the DAB's performance regarding the Article 23 legislation.

(China Daily HK Edition November 25, 2003)