Six months into the unrest that has plunged Hong Kong into chaos, this weekend saw a brief calm as the district elections commenced. A record number of voters braced long queues and sweltering heat on Sunday, translating a complex mix of emotions into ballots.

The elections – usually considered a low-level affair whereby candidates are elected to handle community matters in the city's 18 districts – saw a shift toward pan-democratic control.

A reversal driven by HK youth

Voters turned out in droves to the tune of over 2.94 million – that's 390,000 more than the number in the last elections four years ago – hitting a record turnout rate of 71.2 percent. Back in 2015, only 47 percent showed up. Now, "pan-democracy" parties have scooped up 377 out of the 452 elected seats, up from 124.

The results mean that pan-democrats will not only have a greater say over the day-to-day affairs of their respective districts but also occupy more seats on the election committee that chooses the city's chief executive.

Behind this reversal is a young force that constituted a majority of the new voters. Younger Hong Kong residents have traditionally been less likely to participate in politics compared with older voters. But this time, a lot of them, including those returning from the UK, Singapore and France, flocked to the 600 polling stations. Regina Ip, a Cabinet member and a pro-establishment leader, told The New York Times that she was surprised to see so many young voters this time.

In the name of 'democracy and freedom'

Many of the young voters, who claim they are pursing the "democracy" in this city which used to be under British rule and highly influenced by Western opinion, unwittingly sided with the rioters, whose actions have turned Hong Kong into an abyss.

Since June, violent street protests have dominated Hong Kong society due to a now withdrawn extradition bill. Rioters have even managed to outdo the more striking Yellow Vesters sweeping France and other populist movements in the West, leading to a watershed unseen in the modern history of dissent. 

The most notable is the level of brazenness that the young crowds have exhibited behind masks as they behave unscrupulously in the name of "freedom and democracy." The anonymity gives these youngsters a free pass to enforce mob rule on anyone who don't follow their vision.

In the past fortnight alone, a group of mostly young radicals stormed the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and barricaded themselves inside the Kowloon campus. The protesters trashed hallways, smashed facilities and transformed classrooms into DIY armories stocked with Molotov cocktails, catapults as well as other deadly weapons.

In the Chinese University of Hong Kong, protesters turned the campus into what the police called a "weapons factory." At a press conference, Chief Superintendent John Tse Chun-chung said the protesters used medieval weapons like bows and arrows and javelins to target police officers.

"Those same 'peaceful demonstrators' are such a threat to the safety of an entire university campus of more than 15,000 students, that they had to completely cancel many university operations for several days," wrote Nick Sukie, a U.S. student studying computer science and economics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, on the question-and-answer website Quora. "I do not support the protesters in their approach."

When prestigious institutions that host the world's best and brightest minds instantly become a portal to unleash "Armageddon," is democracy still at work?

Edmund Burke, an 18th-century Anglo-Irish statesman, championed "a manly, moral, regulated liberty." History proves that his "ordered liberty" philosophy where freedom is anchored in a transcendent moral order is pertinent.

Without self-control and morality, Hong Kong society has lost its order and is no longer fit to claim their acts are just for freedom.

A vestige of hope?

Overall, the district council elections went smoothly, though they were interlaced with minor nuisances caused by anti-government forces on social media platforms. It ran counter to a slew of media predictions and signaled that most young voters are longing for peace. Given this consensus with the central government, things may not worsen quickly, as feared by experts.

Furthermore, the pro-establishment camp has won 40 percent of the electorate against the backdrop of the social unrest.

It's sad to see that violence, which created cohesion in the case, played a role in precipitating youth political engagement in Hong Kong, but hopefully once they're fully immersed in politics, they will have a well-informed understanding of democracy, freedom and order.

The months-long protests make both the central government and the SAR government accelerate to seek effective solutions to the plight of the Hong Kong youth – a worsening wealth gap, salary stagnation, and poor housing conditions, among a range of other social ills.

Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 1997, the textbooks have been very much anti-China. The lack of patriotic education coupled with a pale narrative of China's economic miracle have failed to shape their national identity. 

"Now suddenly with all these other economic problems, the young people have been very much influenced by social media, I would use the word 'brainwashed,' to be anti-government and anti-establishment and anti-China," said Annie Wu Suk-ching, daughter of the founder of Maxim's Caterers, to CGTN during an interview earlier this month.

The government has now realized the conundrum and is working on solving it, which will probably take years.

Neither violence nor rancor deriving from populist sentiments will ultimately win. You can only win when you retain dignity.