[BBC]
Votes are being counted in Hong Kong after an unofficial referendum on universal suffrage in the Chinese territory.
The 10-day poll was held by protest group Occupy Central, which says almost 800,000 voted online or in person.
A Hong Kong government spokesman has said the vote has no legal standing.
Campaigners want the former British colony to be able to elect its leader, or the chief executive. China has pledged direct elections by 2017.
However, the public will only have a choice of candidates selected by a nominating committee, and China’s communist authorities have said all candidates must be “patriotic”.
In the referendum, voters had the choice of three proposals – all of which involved allowing citizens to directly nominate Hong Kong’s chief executive – to present to the Beijing government.
Preliminary results suggest that the biggest number of votes has gone to a proposal to allow the public, political parties and a nominating committee to shortlist candidates.
Chinese leaders believe such a process is illegal and want the public ballot to be chosen solely by a committee, effectively limiting the field to those approved by authorities in Beijing.
The voting, in polling stations or on the popvote.hk website, began on 20 June. The deadline was originally set at 22 June, but was later extended after what organisers claimed were several cyber attacks on the website.
Popvote.hk was designed by the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Polytechnic University to measure support for Occupy Central’s campaign.
Chen Jianmin, sociology professor at the University of Hong Kong and one of the founders of Occupy Central, praised the turnout and declared the referendum a success
“It is very unexpected. It is a very encouraging sign,” he said.
“I believe that people feel that our autonomy has been threatened and is going to be threatened even more by Beijing. People feel outrageous [sic outraged] and so they want to make their voice heard.”
The BBC’s Juliana Liu in Hong Kong says the large turnout – about one in five registered voters – sends a strong message that a significant part of the Hong Kong public is unhappy with the Chinese government’s plans for reform.
Pro-Beijing groups have opposed the referendum, with one group marching through the Causeway Bay district with orange balloons urging people not to vote and handing a petition with 30,000 signatures to police.
Violent protests?
The vote is seen as a prelude to a campaign of dissent that could shut down Hong Kong’s financial district, our correspondent adds.
Prof Chen said the protests could turn violent.
“We have been witnessing more and more physical confrontation during protests and I believe that more young people are willing to go to jail or even to confront the police and the government with their own bodies,” he said.
“As a professor, as a parent we want to protect our young generation, that’s why we believe we are now in a very critical juncture of our history.”
Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 following a 1984agreement between China and Britain.
China agreed to govern Hong Kong under the principle of “one country, two systems”, where the city would enjoy “a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs” for 50 years.
As a result, Hong Kong has its own legal system, and rights including freedom of assembly and free speech are protected.
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