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Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement vote called off

Sydney Morning Herald - October 27, 2014

Protesters in Hong Kong to vote on government proposals – Reuters. October 24, 2014
Public support for Occupy movement growing, survey shows – South China Morning Post. October 23, 2014
Exclusive election body at heart of HK protests – Associated Press. October 23, 2014
Hong Kong protesters plan march after fruitless talks with government – Reuters. October 22, 2014
Hong Kong protesters confront government officials in TV debate – Sydney Morning Herald. October 22, 2014

Chris Buckley and Alan Wong, Hong Kong – Organisers of a planned vote among Hong Kong's pro-democracy demonstrators abruptly cancelled it on Sunday, exposing tensions and confusion over how to sustain the movement a month after protesters occupied major streets to demand free elections.

Student leaders and organisers of Occupy Central With Love and Peace – the group that laid the groundwork for a civil disobedience campaign for democracy – had urged people to vote at protest sites on Sunday and Monday as a way of registering their support for student negotiators seeking political concessions from the government.

The referendum boiled down to two simple questions: Did voters endorse demanding that the Hong Kong government press Beijing to make democratic concessions on election rules, and did they agree that the changes should apply to city Legislative Council elections in 2016 and the race for chief executive in 2017?

But hours before the balloting was due to start on Sunday night, organisers announced it was off and apologised.

They said there was too much disagreement over the wording and value of the vote. "We acknowledge that there was not enough consultation with the public," they said in a statement.

At a news conference, some organisers were contrite, while others cast their surprise move in the best possible light.

"It won't affect the morale of this movement," said Alex Chow Yong Kang, the secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students. "This decision can rebuild the trust between us and the protesters. Protesters have all along shared a single goal; it's just that they may have different views about the execution."

But even before the cancellation, the vote – intended as a display of unity – had brought into focus tensions among protesters over how to hone their broadly shared aspirations into durable demands and strategies.

Such strains could deepen as the protesters faced fatigue in their own ranks and the refusal of the Hong Kong government and Chinese Communist Party leaders to make the major concessions demanded by demonstrators, said David Zweig, a professor of social science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

"The question becomes: What's the endgame?" he said in a telephone interview from Toronto, where he was visiting. "Once they didn't pull out earlier and declare victory, they needed something from the government to be able to declare victory. Now they need to find some endgame, and I think that they're not going to find it without compromise."

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/hong-kongs-prodemocracy-movement-vote-called-off-20141027-11caew.html.