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.8 v4 M" u0 U. @+ {- X
8 _- s: H' `! x0 l& ~4 _. dtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbChina - 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.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。* ^( g. N- q8 J* Z) C8 o" C
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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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But on Wednesday they were due to openly select an independent election committee that would supervise their first democratic village poll due next month.7 A f* B7 y! h, v& P9 U, y0 N
# E* y) h- R% ?: qtvb now,tvbnow,bttvb"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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"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."4 A& F- [: Y/ n. g
3 F7 N) N2 F: K: B8 ^% d- b5.39.217.76Zhang Jianxing, a villager close to the local government, added Wednesday's vote was "part of the process to hold open, transparent and fair elections."2 T) S! \3 V: |
V, F* c. L+ ]) ~; n. a$ \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.
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The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.
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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.
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. b7 T! B# t" k5 e/ f4 PTVBNOW 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。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.7 T, u. S2 Z% a& \+ _( G
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The Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.
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. L% s! X: |, {5.39.217.76Following 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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