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.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。, l' S# O+ C, \; x
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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.
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7 w4 S) K, }; P& [, X5.39.217.76But 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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+ {2 u1 n& W* z O' `5 bBut 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.7 |& D1 [$ J" h; v/ `3 z
c2 b& z" J" Y) n7 Dtvb now,tvbnow,bttvb"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."! b+ G" @! i8 f0 N3 p; v4 O. M
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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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4 s' E1 D; ]6 o- _2 z4 m公仔箱論壇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.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb h& s7 s3 s. N( ^, B
9 w0 m" x& Q3 y( X7 q9 n5.39.217.76The 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.! t' x+ H3 P% x' ^+ E; z- \: b
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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.
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! B P, Q3 i: }7 |. \The Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.
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Following 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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