An unofficial referendum held by a Hong Kong students’ group on Saturday received overwhelming support for a class boycott to protest against a new national security law to be imposed by Beijing, but the action cannot proceed because the threshold of 5,000 paper ballots was not met.

More than 90% of 10,101 voters supported the class boycott proposed by the Hong Kong Secondary School Students Action Platform, while 60% cast their votes online.

The referendum also includes parallel polling held by 30 labor unions to conduct a general strike and the votes are still being counted. This poll needs the participation of 60,000 workers, with at least 60% voting in favor of the industrial action, to pass.

The 30 unions had a total of 14,000 members before the referendum. Workers are allowed to take up union membership right before casting their ballots at 20 polling stations; online voting is not available.

The city’s government issued a statement strongly condemning the organizers of the referendum, saying the polling was aimed at “taking advantage of the public and students for political purposes.”

"A civil service staff union is openly calling on civil servants to participate in a joint-union operation for holding a so-called 'referendum on a strike' for opposing the legislation of the national security law. This is absolutely unacceptable,” the statement said.

Michael Ngan, chair of the Union for New Civil Servants, urged civil servants to exercise their right to express their desire for Hong Kong’s future. “No matter how things develop, we will fight for our right of expression as long as the union exists,” he said.

The government also criticized the use of district council members' ward offices as polling stations for the event, and said the related expenses would not be reimbursed.

A government spokesperson said schools should “take appropriate counselling and disciplinary action” if they noticed students engaging in the referendum. "In case such student misbehavior is noted, the Education Bureau will also liaise and follow up with the schools concerned to render support and give instructions,” he added.

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