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.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb3 `1 U, I1 j* ^- z2 T5 P- f" H
) t$ c: R7 r# P; ltvb now,tvbnow,bttvbResidents 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.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb* v, b* [' E ^9 F1 u
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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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0 q3 l- |1 w4 l8 I( e: nBut 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.5.39.217.76! Y0 Z9 V# Q" p2 h# F; o8 e" B& l
x5 K9 s% q. B* t$ w" [* n" nTVBNOW 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 election committee is being elected to supervise next month's village election," a villager surnamed Chen told AFP by phone.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb- C; W/ ?. a/ f2 v" [2 S
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"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."5.39.217.766 v3 X' ]4 ~% L
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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.% ?/ r6 B) Q7 c s; z7 j1 b
, c* S5 O Q+ ^The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.- y" s# l) @6 q8 p5 n- b) X
$ y! ^9 C: q1 [. }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.公仔箱論壇( g/ P; n, F1 ]$ t
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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.公仔箱論壇4 f% k7 X4 q4 B- `3 J% l
! `4 r5 F, O8 ]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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