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.
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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.5.39.217.77:8898/ n; s& M. h9 `5 P/ \) a* e% ~
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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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But 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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6 F9 q9 M, {) s. |0 }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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. b& A9 K# }5 t* k0 d5 B5 E5 l"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb# D' s; O+ e3 ~& {: J0 w t; B
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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.
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) D4 y4 V& M$ _; e: h# J5.39.217.77:8898The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.* ? b8 y5 c* c1 b) N
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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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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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/ t7 X+ [: ^9 m) @$ j5 H: LThe Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb( v+ ]6 u$ H o# x9 h
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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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