HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp fears the movement could be dealt a further setback when voters go the polls on Sunday. The expected loss of seats in the territory’s legislature, democracy activists say, is the result of a system increasingly controlled by Beijing and stacked against them.

After months of street protests in 2014 failed to make Hong Kong’s elections more open, the protest leaders decided to run for office themselves. Several won seats in the Legislative Council in 2016, only to later be removed after they modified their oaths of office.

Now, four of those six vacated seats are up for election on Sunday. At least one is expected to go to the pro-establishment camp, as beleaguered advocates for more direct democracy in Hong Kong are struggling in what they describe as a rigged system, which has always favored the establishment.

One democratic candidate was equivocal about the value of the seat he was pursuing, saying he felt that the local legislature was an increasingly powerless body.