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& L8 W2 Y2 f6 }( m/ i: q
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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.
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0 K) y8 V+ F4 n& g$ K( {tvb now,tvbnow,bttvbChina - 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.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。4 V- b2 s/ ]" |+ k
- o2 } r/ M$ r- |" _/ D公仔箱論壇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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But on Wednesday they were due to openly select an independent election committee that would supervise their first democratic village poll due next month.5.39.217.772 V5 W) @/ O6 Z0 T; U
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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.公仔箱論壇2 Q0 n$ W2 x2 N, p: T8 E6 x1 p
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"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."$ S1 Q% Y* N! C5 y
. L! T" t* n# f X* n1 }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。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."5.39.217.77 ?# j% D. O% K; V7 O
( ?' ~! y7 l4 O" [! |公仔箱論壇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.6 W' x$ K, \" I
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The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb+ u" L/ n+ i$ R7 \* J7 G; s
4 d/ |. v% e% 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。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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) T) L( ~9 u+ Q: b" n0 nBut 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$ y' N, \- \1 g" X. h/ J
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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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