What next for Hong Kong?

Isaac Lawrence | AFP | Getty Images

Nathan Law (C) speaks at a rally with Joshua Wong (centre L) and supporters following the former's Legislative Council election win in Hong Kong on September 5, 2016.

Hong Kong's election results last week revealed big surprises, with several radical, young politicians now having a say over the city's governance.

Alongside Hong Kong's traditional "pan-Democrat" and pro-Beijing political camps, non-establishment figures advocating greater autonomy for the city now have seats on the former British colony's Legislative Council.

An unusually high voter turnout of 58 percent and polls open well past midnight implied an appetite for change in the politically and socially conservative Special Autonomous Region of China. These were the first major elections since the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement took over central areas of the city in 2014.

As Hong Kong's now more varied Legislative Council reflects the city's increasingly diverse political scene, CNBC takes a look at some future scenarios:

'Just another Chinese city'

Pro-Beijing politicians now hold 40 of the 70 seats on the Legislative Council.

Hong Kong is almost 20 years into a 50-year agreement between China and its former colonial ruler, the U.K., following its official handover in 1997. The city's capitalist system and general way of life is to be maintained under a "one country, two systems" approach until 2047.

But, concern over what happens when this agreement expires is emerging early, following what some perceive as China's growing encroachment on Hong Kong. Nathan Law, a leader of 2014's Umbrella Movement and one of several newly elected "self-determination" advocates, has expressed that Hong Kong may become "just another Chinese city," according to the BBC.

Roderic Wye, associate fellow of the Asia program at Chatham House, told CNBC via telephone that such an outcome perpetuates the "fear that (Hong Kong) would lose its specialness," particularly with regards to its civil liberties and rule of law.