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.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb* S2 ~4 C# h* {" G- f. c
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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.公仔箱論壇8 ~2 a1 d! C, D5 Y7 _' B% L5 I
x- J$ X( L$ U7 T( dBut 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.
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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.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb/ r3 Q) s% J; p5 b' q$ `6 R/ v
/ @# i' B8 U' [2 p9 e"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."' w/ Q* }$ F* k7 }
w$ L+ t1 d8 }- C. l% j- ZTVBNOW 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 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,bttvb8 q& x3 L' `- l7 y6 @& L1 f
( m ~/ L. m* S# m3 V3 g# [! H* R" etvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThe 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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0 p, a. f6 j5 L* r9 ZBut 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.2 J+ s( t9 z6 ]- z0 s8 W' [/ y
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The Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.% n5 N! `, }" B2 \; c$ v2 s) q
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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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