Carrie Lam
The Chief Executive says she will accelerate dialogue and plans to set up a committee to review deep-seated social issues that contributed to grievances.
Hong Kong's most unpopular post-colonial leader acknowledged voters wanted to express their views on many issues, including "deficiencies in governance", but also wanted an end to the six-month-old unrest gripping the city.
"Everybody wants to go back to their normal life and this requires the concerted efforts of every one of us," Lam said.
"So, as I have said repeatedly, resorting to violence will not give us that way forward. So please, please help us to maintain the relative calm and peace ... and provide a good basis for Hong Kong to move forward."
At her weekly news conference on Tuesday, Lam said the central government didn't blame her for poll the outcome. The pro-democracy bloc won a landslide victory with 90 per cent of seats securing their first majority after running a campaign against Beijing's perceived encroachments on Hong Kong's liberties.
Comment: Details of the turnout:
Voters in Hong Kong's district-council elections, the city's only fully democratic contest, delivered a humiliating rebuke of the government. In a record voter turnout, pro-democracy candidates captured more than 80 percent of the 452 seats in contention and gained control of 17 of Hong Kong's 18 district councils, all of which were previously pro-establishment following the 2015 election.
Meanwhile, Beijing, who has set up a crisis command centre in a villa on the mainland side of the border with Hong Kong, is considering replacing its official liaison office to the semi-autonomous city to tighten control and manage the recent upheaval.
Comment: It's like this in all departments of the federal government. And the attitude flows downstream too. Researchers with government grants are notoriously frivolous and wasteful with the funds provided. Defense contractors charge more than their products and services are worth, forcing taxpayers to pay more than they have to. Meanwhile, those with cozy relationships with the politicians get rich because of the contracts, the politicians get rich too from the kickbacks, and the U.S. federal budget continues to balloon.
And yet some innocent people - bless their hearts - think it's a good idea to increase taxes so that the government gets even more money to waste. How about the opposite? Cut budgets, force government agencies to actually manage with what they get, and give them deadlines. If they can't get their act together in x years and meet set requirements, their entire department gets axed.