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.公仔箱論壇) T# V" r0 q. E$ q$ W# 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.5.39.217.766 y! Z. _0 d1 |
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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.- X5 ^8 Y& T' c+ z9 i
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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.( Y A) S# ?6 `
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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.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。; C9 D; F f4 ^( r
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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.5.39.217.762 s4 A r$ i, i0 I( K
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"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb3 W: V3 g B7 t
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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."; O5 i0 J8 P0 P X* h/ |+ P7 j
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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.公仔箱論壇$ a& v$ M. A2 P' X
) G5 x% d5 g0 stvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThe concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.
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3 r- ~( e) Y( ^8 IThey 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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8 a, @6 n) j1 _tvb now,tvbnow,bttvbBut 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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( J& P7 q, t' D# L$ \8 w5.39.217.76The Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.
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5 \, ?. A% T6 m# s. G3 ntvb now,tvbnow,bttvbFollowing 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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