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.2 I) s  x8 w& D' m: w
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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.% Y" r6 T: H' ~
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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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$ ]: O3 S% V! o9 u. kBut 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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+ B5 ]' t% ^- `- T3 n6 ^* g% 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 on Wednesday they were due to openly select an independent election committee that would supervise their first democratic village poll due next month.! K# L8 F- N4 N
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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.5.39.217.77+ _5 d  k. x4 f5 M( B

) d/ ?) }- _, D- H5 cTVBNOW 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."tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb, s0 T' [5 Y3 N
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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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. w9 X( L) b+ x" G9 KThe 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. d" d4 z  Z* \
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The 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.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb$ y  [( c. ^. x. g- o
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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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9 ]- H0 e- |$ t$ j- t; O- r  btvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThe Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.: V# S6 _$ x$ F) }: l" u; O( H7 x# N

" [- Q( d  J1 o( Y7 R- hFollowing investigations into corruption, the government conceded that villagers' grievances were reasonable and that closed elections for village leaders last year were invalid.