China's central authorities on Friday rebuffed an unofficial "referendum" into how the Hong Kong chief executive will be elected, saying such a "referendum" lacks constitutional grounds and is illegal and invalid.
The referendum, organized by the Occupy Central movement, kicked off earlier on Friday and asked voters to choose from three shortlists, all of which suggest that any electoral plan of the chief executive should start with public nominations instead of Beijing's plan for the nominating committee.
The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said in a statement that the election methods proposed are not in line with the universal suffrage method determined by the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
The SAR government on Friday also said the so-called "civil referendum" has no legal effect, after repeatedly pointing out that according to Article 45 of the Basic Law, the power to nominate chief executive candidates is vested in the nominating committee only.
"What must be pointed out is that a 'referendum' is a constitutional arrangement. Hong Kong is not a state and has no right to create a 'referendum.' Occupy Central movement's proposal has attempted to make Hong Kong's political system equivalent to that of a state and exposed its nature of favoring the 'independence of Hong Kong,' which is both illegal and unconstitutional," said Yuen Kwok-keung, the Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong SAR.
Wearing white T-shirts and chanting the slogan "June 22, voting together," over 200 Hong Kong residents and representatives from pro-democracy groups, including Tai Yiu-ting, the organizer of Occupy Central, and retired Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun participated in the voting launching ceremony on Friday.
The voting period is to be extended to June 29, with online voting starting on Friday and poll booths open on Sunday.
Tai told the Global Times that Occupy Central will not demonstrate in Central, Hong Kong's financial district, on July 1.
"We'll consider [a demonstration] after the government puts forward its plan, probably at the end of this year," Tai said.
Some residents who came to the launching ceremony had little knowledge about the voting proposals or the universal suffrage in 2017.
Chim Miu-cheung, 65, believed the "referendum" was a chance for Hong Kong people to "pursue democracy," but she admitted she did not know the differences among the three shortlists.
In 2007, the Standing Committee of National People's Congress announced that Hong Kong could embrace universal suffrage as early as 2017 in electing the next chief executive from a number of candidates determined by a "broadly representative nominating committee."
"It is likely some small change will be added into the Basic Law's Appendix, such as expanding the current four sub-sectors the representatives come from to five. However, the change will always be subjected to the framework of the Basic Law," said Tian Feilong, a legal expert at Beihang University.
Some 326,947 people voted as of 9 pm on Friday, according to the website of Hong Kong University's public opinion program.
The voting was also widely criticized by many organizations in Hong Kong. Lobby group Silent Majority released a video saying the protests in Central would leave the whole city in gridlock and over 1.3 million people would be trapped in Hong Kong island in one hour.
The Hong Kong-based Sing Tao Daily reported Friday that over 53.6 percent of local people opposed the Occupy Central campaign, according to a poll conducted by the Hong Kong government this week.