Rebel China village takes first step in democratic vote
BEIJING - Villagers in China whose rebellion against local officials last year grabbed the headlines kicked off a key process on Wednesday that will see them hold their first-ever open, democratic elections.
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Residents in Wukan in the wealthy southern province of Guangdong won rare concessions after they faced off with authorities for more than a week in December in a row over land and graft, including pledges to hold free village polls.
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China - a one-party state where top leaders are not elected by the people - nevertheless allows villagers across the country to vote for a committee to represent them.' D& L* g; U1 s1 j& @4 x7 ^# u; d0 D
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But Wukan residents said their leaders had never before allowed these polls to go ahead in an open fashion, and instead selected members of the village committee behind closed doors.
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8 H# D1 b! x. z: p. b* b# L5.39.217.76But on Wednesday they were due to openly select an independent election committee that would supervise their first democratic village poll due next month.
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"The election committee is being elected to supervise next month's village election," a villager surnamed Chen told AFP by phone.
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0 [; p1 R6 C' Z; [- _; VTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."
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Zhang Jianxing, a villager close to the local government, added Wednesday's vote was "part of the process to hold open, transparent and fair elections."
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The election committee will be made up of 11 villagers who will not be allowed to run for next month's election, according to the official Xinhua news agency.5.39.217.76# w! k6 z5 [) ?' `! f: u, N& m, q
3 a" A4 V1 X8 f! g- A" a/ H0 [TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.公仔箱論壇0 Z- V8 O a" Y2 R( D
: ^# E# H( e4 G. g9 U' h+ P9 E公仔箱論壇They had protested for months in autumn last year against their allegedly corrupt leaders, whom they accused of abusing their power to profit from land in the village.3 J8 n, `1 n# g" p6 w
% {/ t6 b/ P; P! L8 ~But it was not until detained community leader Xue Jinbo died in police custody in December after allegedly being beaten that their anger boiled over, prompting a tense, drawn-out stand-off with police and officials.5.39.217.76# K: @ _1 Q+ ^/ V
& W2 t- D5 Y5 m( }9 \- A5 C5.39.217.76The Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.
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9 h6 x6 e7 x: X" r( M* a. WFollowing investigations into corruption, the government conceded that villagers' grievances were reasonable and that closed elections for village leaders last year were invalid. |
發表於 2012-2-2 08:35 AM
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