Over 500,000 vote in Hong Kong democracy poll

More than half-a-million people voted in an unofficial Hong Kong electoral reform poll amid massive cyberattacks. Beijing was vocal in its censure of the exercise, calling it “illegal.” Online polling started on Friday, June 20 with some 514,996 residents taking part in the “civil referendum.” The poll  asked how voters would like to choose their next leader. China has promised direct elections for the next chief executive in 2017, but ruled out allowing voters to choose which candidates can run. The 500,000 who voted in the first 29 hours of the poll represented a sizeable chunk of the 3.47 million people who registered to vote at elections in 2012.

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