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.
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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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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 c& W' Z1 c7 q: r! `6 s
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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.公仔箱論壇! @/ P* }5 U4 p' ], ]& h/ i

3 k, g: v' |' M公仔箱論壇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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"The election committee is being elected to supervise next month's village election," a villager surnamed Chen told AFP by phone.. Z! i. d2 t. g1 _* g8 k7 }
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"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."
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* C) g& T( Q0 W$ c1 d! w9 p5.39.217.77:8898Zhang 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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" z% N4 i( K: G, OThe 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.8 K" s0 _( `. _( u
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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.
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9 Z7 B5 k; R; }" s0 W" vTVBNOW 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.公仔箱論壇0 i+ l+ |4 s( S4 p

% {* K5 y/ \( Q5.39.217.77:8898The Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.
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! G' n6 s, `" OTVBNOW 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.