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.5.39.217.77:88989 z8 J* G) D& f
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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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! H/ u% e, [8 V8 d1 }- s' W5.39.217.77:8898China - 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。. f9 c( F# J+ {+ g
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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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9 ~% O' Q. [/ s; E, ttvb now,tvbnow,bttvb"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."& Z+ ?( m, K, T2 D0 ]7 {! s: o
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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."( n' c) i9 E/ o/ k) \, b

/ E/ y  Z) F/ i, P3 C3 e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.
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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/ x. U+ T1 ^0 U7 W% Y3 Z3 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.6 D, Z' ?& w" G

: w* e, [7 C5 L; @* d5 h公仔箱論壇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.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。) c9 w+ o) H# P; A! \

3 B- ]" k( B. Q7 f; o- cThe Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.$ Z- y" K/ T2 p
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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.