Hong Kong citizens are voting in a landmark election in which pro-democracy candidates are expected to do well after weeks of anti-China protests.
The poll comes a day after the government scrapped plans for mandatory Chinese patriotism lessons in schools.
Hong Kong, which was handed to China by Britain in 1997, enjoys greater political freedom than mainland China, including a free press and the right to peaceful assembly, the BBC reports.
For the first time, more than half the seats in the legislature are being directly elected.
The rest are chosen by different economic interest groups.
There are plans for all the seats to be chosen by elections from 2017.
