Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp lost two of the four Legislative Council seats up for grabs in a key by-election on Sunday, which activists had dubbed a referendum on Beijing’s increasing encroachments in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

香港亲民主阵营在上周日举行的一场关键补选中丢掉了四个立法会(Legislative Council)空缺议席中的两席。此前，活动人士把这次补选比作一次针对北京方面日益介入香港事务这个问题的公投。香港是中国一块半自治的领土。

The election was held to fill four of the seats vacated after six pro-democracy legislators were ousted at Beijing’s behest for failing to swear allegiance with sincerity.

之前在北京方面的要求下，六名亲民主议员因未能真诚地进行入职宣誓而被取消了议员资格。此次补选的是其中的四个空缺议席。

But several activists, including prominent student leader Agnes Chow, were blocked from standing as candidates after their political views were deemed unacceptable by the government, which is under pressure from Beijing to curb opposition.

但包括知名学生领袖周庭(Agnes Chow)在内的数名活动人士未能取得候选人资格，因为他们的政治观点被香港政府认为不可接受，港府正承受着北京方面要其压制反对派的压力。

Au Nok-hin, a pro-democracy activist who was elected in the Hong Kong island constituency, described the result as a “Pyrrhic victory”.

在港岛区胜出的亲民主活动人士区诺轩(Au Nok-hin)形容这是一场“惨胜”。

“At least we can say that there are quite a number of Hong Kongers who oppose the government’s disqualifications of existing lawmakers and candidates,” he said.

他说：“我们至少可以说，有相当多的香港人反对政府取消一些当选议员及候选人资格的做法。”

Judy Chan, the pro-Beijing candidate who lost to Mr Au, said that her side had “narrowed down the gap” and hopes to “get closer next time”.

输给区诺轩的亲北京候选人陈家珮(Judy Chan)表示，自己一方已经“缩小了差距”，希望“下次更进一步”。

While democracy campaigners said the election was “unfair”, Hong Kong remains the only part of China that has such vigorously contested – if increasingly circumscribed – elections.

虽然民主活动人士指摘香港立法会选举“不公平”，但在偌大的中国，也只有在香港能看到如此激烈角逐的选举，尽管香港的选举受到了越来越大的限制。

More than 2m people, over half the electorate, were entitled to vote in the by-election, but the turnout, at 43 per cent, was lower than activists had hoped.

超过200万人(逾半数选民)有资格在这次补选中投票，但实际投票率仅为43%，没有达到活动人士希望的水平。

The democracy camp now holds 26 out of the 70 seats in the Legislative Council, where half the seats are filled through democratic elections and the other half with representatives of business and trade lobby groups that are mostly pro-Beijing.

民主阵营目前在立法会70个席位中占据26席。香港立法会中的半数席位通过民主选举产生，另外半数则是商业和贸易游说团体的代表，这些团体大都亲北京。

Additional reporting by Nicolle Liu Nicolle Liu补充报道