More than 1,60,000 people took part in an unofficial Hong Kong vote on electoral reform on Friday, at a time of heightened tensions as pro-democracy activists worry that Beijing will backtrack on its promise of universal suffrage.
As of 4 pm local time, four hours after online polling opened, 1,66,980 people had taken part in the informal “civil referendum” which asks participants to choose between three methods to vote for Hong Kong’s next leader in 2017.
Occupy Central, the local pro-democracy movement that organised the vote, said a high turnout would prove the city’s determination to win “true” universal suffrage for the semi-autonomous city.