After Hong Kong’s pro-democracy candidates scored a landslide win in local elections, Chinese state media called the results “skewed” and a “setback” for the city’s drive for democracy, Eurasia Diary reports citing Reuters.

Pan-democrats in Hong Kong won almost 90% of 452 district council seats in Sunday’s elections — widely seen as a barometer of public sentiment after months of social unrest in the special administrative region. The results were also a stinging rebuke to Beijing-backed chief executive Carrie Lam and her administration.

“The result of Sunday’s district council election marks a setback for Hong Kong’s democratic development, as the results were skewed by the illegal activities of the opposition camp to the benefit of their candidates,” said China Daily in an editorial on Monday.

“In the run up to Sunday’s voting, members of the opposition camp, particularly their young agitators, engaged in an all-out campaign to sabotage the campaign activities of pro-establishment candidates and intimidate their supporters from going to the ballot box,” added the English language newspaper

In a commentary on Monday, state news agency Xinhua blamed “foreign forces” and said the election “fell victim” to the social unrest.

“During the past more than five months, rioters conspired with foreign forces and escalated violent acts, which resulted in political antagonism, social splits, and setbacks in the economy,” Xinhua said in the editorial.

“Campaigns of some patriotic candidates were seriously disrupted, and their offices were trashed and set ablaze. One candidate was injured in an attack. Harassment on patriotic candidates occurred on the voting day,” according to the news agency.