Our voice must be heard, say voters in unofficial Occupy Central referendum
Ninety per cent of people at Occupy Central's polling stations demand a say in who can lead the city, as even critics turn out to vote
Nine out of 10 voters at Occupy Central's polling stations believe the public must have a say in who can run in the next chief executive election, a mini-poll by the South China Morning Post found.
The survey also found that half of respondents say that it was Beijing's contentious white paper on Hong Kong that drove them to the polls. A quarter of them say they will take part in the civil disobedience movement, while half say they are considering it or are unsure.
The survey, held at seven of the 15 polling stations yesterday, had 124 male and 83 female respondents. About 60 per cent have a tertiary education.
The overwhelming backing for "public nomination" - with 87 per cent agreeing that it is a must - comes despite months of propaganda from both local and Beijing officials who disapprove of what they call an "unconstitutional" idea invented by pandemocrats, including the student-led Scholarism.
Businessman Lam Kam-wah, 62, said he had returned from the mainland to vote. He said any electoral system should allow everyone to nominate candidates. "Civic nomination is the only way any universal suffrage can be genuine," he said after voting at Polytechnic University.
