Half of Hongkongers say lawmakers should veto Beijing's electoral reform plan
Poll shows 48pc want legislators to vote down any blueprint for electing chief executive that adheres to strict restrictions imposed by Beijing
Some 48 per cent of Hongkongers say lawmakers should veto the reform proposal on the 2017 chief executive election if it follows the restrictive conditions laid down by Beijing, a poll commissioned by the South China Morning Post found.
This compared with 39 per cent who said the legislature should approve the reform plan, and 13 per cent who said they did not know or found it "hard to tell".
Eighty-six per cent believed the Occupy Central campaign to paralyse the city's business hub to press for more democracy had little or no chance of changing the central or local government's stance on reform. Just 5 per cent said Occupy was likely to force a change.
Occupy co-founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting said the results showed that a growing number of Hongkongers found an electoral model with political screening unacceptable.
The Occupy movement might not reverse the situation immediately, he said, but it was crucial as it would help nurture Hong Kong's civil society.
Another Occupy leader, Dr Chan Kin-man, urged the government to start the constitutional reform process again if the legislature voted down the one based on Beijing's guidelines.
The eight-day survey, carried out by the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme, started canvassing Hongkongers' views randomly by telephone on September 4 - four days after the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress unveiled the electoral blueprint.