By Ching Cheong, Senior Writer

THE balance of power between Hong Kong's pro-Beijing and pro-democracy camps was almost unchanged by Sunday's Legislative Council elections, meaning the Beijing-set timeframe for democratic reforms is unlikely to be altered.

The pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) remains the largest single party, with the pro-business Liberal Party (LP) slipping down to third place and the pro-democracy Democratic Party (DP) edging up to second.

The city's legislature is made up of 60 seats. Half of them are chosen by functional constituencies (FC) composed of small, mostly commercial special interest groups, and the other half are fiercely-contested geographical constituencies (GC).

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