Police in Macau detained five people involved in staging an unofficial referendum on democracy in the southern Chinese territory, organizers said, nearly two months after activists angered Beijing by conducting a similar poll in Hong Kong.
The informal referendum among Macau's 600,000 residents coincides with the widely expected re-election of local leader Fernando Chui next Sunday.
But it is an official body of 400 that elects the leader, similar to Hong Kong where a small committee of largely pro-Beijing loyalists chooses who gets on the ballot, effectively rendering the ability to vote meaningless.