Rebel China village takes first step in democratic vote

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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.5.39.217.76! {; O, k0 k, c" r
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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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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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! @# y: l2 J/ qBut on Wednesday they were due to openly select an independent election committee that would supervise their first democratic village poll due next month.7 g! N$ d. O" W' n: D

% h" l1 C8 i2 Y* r% g- Ptvb now,tvbnow,bttvb"The election committee is being elected to supervise next month's village election," a villager surnamed Chen told AFP by phone.
0 k: P8 Z  J: o( ?1 BTVBNOW 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。
: r7 u4 S1 m# e) W  D: |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。"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."
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. X# j6 S& [9 JZhang Jianxing, a villager close to the local government, added Wednesday's vote was "part of the process to hold open, transparent and fair elections."公仔箱論壇- [7 w/ i3 _8 t- X4 }8 O
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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.
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/ s8 l) d. z7 b! m# CThe concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.
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4 x4 ]3 q- \+ VThey 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.5.39.217.76% E% f7 j) v" |' Y0 T

7 [2 z' J' S3 U# B3 g" A/ ?. }- O  [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。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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The Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers./ d. b+ b9 X' B& T/ k" h7 B
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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.