Hong Kong, Jul 12 (IANS): Long queues appeared outside polling stations across Hong Kong on Sunday as residents flocked to cast their votes in a weekend primary held by the opposition camp for the upcoming Legislative Council (Legco) elections, a day after it drew a higher-than-expected turnout.

Hongkongers were seen queuing up in multiple stations before polling started 9a.m., as politicians of the opposition bloc made their last-ditch effort to canvass votes for the selection of candidates for September's Legco elections, reports the South China Morning Post newspaper.

Some 318,184 people had voted as of 1 p.m. (local time) on Sunday, said the primary's organiser, Power of Democracy.

By the end of Saturday, 234,547 Hongkongers or 5.26 per cent of the city's 4.5 million registered voters, cast their ballots to choose their opposition candidates.

The territory-wide primary was held in the wake of China's imposition of the national security law on the city, which outlaws acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.