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.3 ^$ W8 Q3 G9 y' i0 ?2 r
1 s: e, p+ _! M: W公仔箱論壇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.公仔箱論壇& }* n+ c0 i( k% g4 S8 A: B/ K' b
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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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! H! W6 n" {* j: M/ r6 rtvb now,tvbnow,bttvbBut 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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! u$ ` y K3 }4 H! o9 Q% }公仔箱論壇"The election committee is being elected to supervise next month's village election," a villager surnamed Chen told AFP by phone.5.39.217.76. j5 }: f. W7 i! [. @( {
0 m2 I8 i+ c$ g k, f公仔箱論壇"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."
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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.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。8 [( S2 O, k- q& X4 n& T
; V0 \% b) Y! A. R }2 Q+ Q5.39.217.76The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.
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, P/ r" G* c1 M# @, v9 stvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThey 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# |! S5 jTVBNOW 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.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb- t) `" d9 t p, z: K
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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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