HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s prodemocracy candidates appeared to modestly increase their number in the legislature today despite inadequate preparations that resulted in delays at some polling stations.

According to Reuters, exit polls indicated only a slight gain by the prodemocracy camp. The political structure of the legislature, in which only one half the seats are chosen by universal suffrage, and the proportional representation system implemented after Beijing took control of Hong Kong in 1997, make it difficult for pro-democracy candidates to win a majority of seats.

The election came after 15 months of pressure from Beijing dating back to its unsuccessful effort to implement new national security laws in the summer of 2003. A massive protest march against the laws invigorated the Hong Kong democracy movement and also propelled new political figures onto the stage. Last April, a mainland body charged with interpreting Hong Kong’s so-called constitution, the Basic Law, ruled that it would have to approve any future steps toward democracy after these elections, and that there would be no democratic elections for the chief executive in 2007 or universal suffrage for the legislature in 2008.

With a majority of legislative seats out of reach, voter turnout became an indicator of Hong Kong people’s desire for democratization, as well as a factor in determining the pro-democracy movement’s strength in dealings with Beijing in the future. The official turnout rate was 53%, approximately the same as the record-breaking 1998 legislative elections.

However, officials apparently failed to anticipate that a high turnout, with a larger electorate than in 2000 as well as a larger ballot paper, would require extra ballot boxes. A record 1.7 million people cast ballots. Radio Television Hong Kong reported significant delays after full ballot boxes required officials to supply 1,000 additional boxes during the day.

According to pro-democracy legislative councilor Margaret Ng, the full ballot boxes led to some polling stations closing for up to one-and-a-half hours. Ms.Ng said a poll worker told her that officials’ failure to respond to a request for more ballot boxes led him to open a box. Upon arriving at the polling station, said Ms. Ng, “We found that the box was open and the pile of ballot papers was on the table…There is no excuse to bungle an important election in this way.”

Moments later, across the hall in the Central Counting Center in Kowloon Bay, the constitutional affairs secretary, Stephen Lam, played down the problem and pronounced an “electoral success” for which it had made “the best possible arrangements.” Ms. Ng said the problem with the ballots raised a question about the effect on the election, but that she didn’t know how many polling stations were affected or what action she and other legislators might take.

Voters on Hong Kong Island, one of five geographic districts, turned out in especially high numbers, apparently due to concern about the political fate of the popular Martin Lee Chuming, a longtime leader in the territory’s democracy movement. According to exit polls/Radio Television Hong Kong, Mr. Lee is likely to keep his seat. Mr. Lee’s placement, second on his party’s list behind the current chairman, and the presence in the race of a popular independent prodemocracy candidate, Audrey Eu Yuet Mee and her number two candidate, Cyd Ho Sau-lan, raised fears that Mr. Lee would be a casualty of the complicated proportional representation system devised by Beijing that has the effect of pitting prodemocracy candidates against each other despite a high popular vote.

One young man who did not wish to be identified said he came to vote expressly for Mr. Lee because he did not want the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong to win. Mr. Lo, a man in his late 20s, said he was for “anybody but the DAB.”

Pro-democracy voters interviewed near three polling places were willing to give only a first name or a common family name.

In another closely watched and entertaining race, an activist named Leung Kwok-hung but popularly known as “Long Hair” is expected to win a seat in the New Territories East constituency. Mr. Leung often wears a Che Guevara T-shirt and routinely stages colorful demonstrations in favor of democracy. On election morning, he led protesters heckling the Beijing-appointed chief executive C.H. Tung as he cast his ballot.

In yesterday’s election, only 30 of 60 seats were chosen by universal suffrage in five geographic constituencies. The other 30 were determined by voters belonging to functional constituencies, chiefly business, professional, and other groups. The great majority of functional constituency representatives are aligned with Beijing. Of these 30 seats, 11 were uncontested.