Opinion | Democrats should ride wave of discontent to force out Leung Chun-ying

If the democrats play their cards right in the next few months, Leung Chun-ying's days as chief executive may well be numbered.

The overwhelming turnout for the informal plebiscite organised by the Occupy Central movement has come as a total surprise, not only to the central and Hong Kong governments, but also the pan-democratic camp.

The Chinese authorities have sought to scupper the civil referendum by issuing a white paper to remind Hongkongers of Beijing's complete control over the special administrative region.

However, instead of dashing the people's dream for democracy, the high-handed approach backfired. So far, well over 740,000 residents have voted, thereby declaring their support for the Occupy movement.

The movement's leaders - the Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, University of Hong Kong academic Benny Tai Yiu-ting and sociologist Chan Kin-man - had set themselves a target of just 200,000 votes. They even offered to bow out if fewer than 100,000 votes were received.

In the run-up to the poll, Occupy's online voting platform was hacked into by computers reportedly using IP addresses from China-funded institutions. The Chinese propaganda machine even denounced the poll as illegal.