MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) - Hong Kong protesters are planning to take a vote on whether to accept the deal proposed by the government and end their occupation of Central after having initially rejected the offer to debate the electoral reform on the conditions of the authorities.
The ‘Occupy Central’ leaders said they will poll the participants of the demonstration at the main camp of protest near the headquarters of the government of Hong Kong Sunday evening, as reported by AFP.
No details have been released as to how the voting will be conducted, however, the protesters have said they will take the poll electronically and it will be administered by the same entity who organized the unofficial referendum in June. It is also still unknown if the demonstrators at the other protest sites in Mongkok and Causeway Bay will participate.
Benny Tai, Professor of Law for University of Hong Kong and also the principal organizer of the ‘Occupy Central’, said the numerical data of the vote will be used in future negotiations as leverage to pressure the government.
"We will be able to better represent the people and take the initiative on behalf of them", he said as reported by BBC.
While the numbers of the ‘Occupy Central’ movemenet have largely decreased since its initiation, the most passionate protesters, mainly students, are determined to sustain the civil unrest until the mainland agrees to revise its' rules for the 2017 election. They are also demanding that the current leader of Hong Kong resign.
"The poll can quantify opinions and tell the government that people in different occupied areas are requesting the government to come up with a practical response", Alex Chow, one of the protest leaders told AFP.
The protest has been emboldened by the UN Human Rights Committee which said China should grant universal suffrage to Hong Kong. The mainland authorities and the current Hong Kong government consider the street demonstrations ‘illegitimate’ and claim the civil unrest is disrupting the city’s life and causing a disturbance, hence not deserivng any recognition.
