Ordinary citizens were expected to cast fewer votes for the pro-democracy camp than they did in the last legislative race in 2004, when those candidates scored new seats amid widespread anger over Beijing-backed officials and policies.

This year, the hot-button issue of democratic reform has largely taken a back seat to concerns about wages, education and inflation.

"The democrats face a tough fight," said Ma Ngok, a political analyst at Hong Kong's Chinese University. "They could see their presence in the legislature diminished.

Most of the territory's voters will directly pick 30 of Hong Kong's legislators, but the other 30 are chosen by a relatively small group of special interest voters, such as business leaders, doctors and accountants, who are expected to back pro-Beijing candidates.

The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. China quelled much of the debate over democratic reform last year when it announced that the territory could elect its own leader in 2017 and all of its legislators in 2020, at the earliest.

Ma and other analysts have predicted the opposition camp, deprived of its signature issue, might lose as many as five of their 26 seats. Any more than that would cost them their veto power and greatly expand the ability of conservatives to mold Hong Kong's election law in China's favor.

Also helping Beijing's allies are a booming mainland economy and a resurgent sense of nationalism that's only increased with last month's Olympic Games.

About 3.4 million of the territory's 7 million people are registered to vote this year. A record 55 per cent of registered voters cast ballots in the election four years ago.