Five people were detained in Macau on Monday for staging an unofficial democratic poll in a southern Chinese territory two months after activists raged Beijing in doing the same poll in Hong Kong.

The informal democratic poll includes 600,000 residents of Macau and is widely expected to be a poll for the re-election of Fernando Chui, local leader and current chief executive of Macau, next Sunday.

Like Us on Facebook

The five were arrested on charges of breaching the privacy law. Jason Chao, among those who were detained, was charged with "serious disobedience with police." However, the men were later released.

Macau authorities have already shut down electronic tablets in which people were allowed to vote whether the new leader should be re-elected by the people. The online poll aims to run for a week since it launched on Sunday.

According to Vice President Bill Chou of the New Macau Group, the shutdown was unnecessary because everyone who participated in the poll had consented to the activity and that the police had no reason to intervene and arrest people.

Chou added that his group sought the people's permission their identity cards were collected. The tally on Monday morning totaled 4,700 people who voted already.

Civic movements in Macau and Hong Kong are proof of the biggest challenge to the Chinese government yet after Beijing ruled that the same informal poll in Hong Kong last June was said to be illegal.

Retired and current Chinese officials issued a warning and said that Beijing is prepared to unveil its army garrison, which will handle riots in Hong Kong.

Macau remains to be apolitical compared to Hong Kong when it comes to Democracy. However, over the past year, residents in Macau have been increasingly vocal on the inequalities that they perceived and was highlighted by the 20,000 people march protest in last May.

TagsMacau, Bill Chou, Fernando Chui