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.0 F8 c  v! O, d6 t4 B& _

9 l, x+ w( i  i3 G4 H1 V8 TResidents 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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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.5.39.217.77:88984 Q! |+ `- B, `5 i; i" F
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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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But on Wednesday they were due to openly select an independent election committee that would supervise their first democratic village poll due next month.0 R7 a: C/ Q& P- |% k: G

3 `2 z; u# w2 F" D3 u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.
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"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."公仔箱論壇! [' h5 h3 N1 f1 ?5 n  L$ k

1 _9 A% {# N* |5 I  C% V' L& v: yZhang Jianxing, a villager close to the local government, added Wednesday's vote was "part of the process to hold open, transparent and fair elections.". Z1 {4 G. m. s5 V5 I! q" r3 l

7 a% b# D) D: _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.
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The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China., }/ v6 j7 w: L: Z/ x. y
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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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5 A& D, @' q* E7 J8 gTVBNOW 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.5.39.217.77:8898$ V6 [- Z7 j1 T8 F. T. S
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。, P! A2 I  Z9 o7 L
The Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.3 W+ }9 n& J8 {0 R

1 l8 r! l# C- 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。Following investigations into corruption, the government conceded that villagers' grievances were reasonable and that closed elections for village leaders last year were invalid.