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.公仔箱論壇4 e0 G+ Y/ \" v. }
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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.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb l/ U8 s8 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.5.39.217.77:8898: v; K7 q! Z6 ]; w- X1 I1 [2 e1 M
# T. f2 X) \7 z. w) V& h/ d6 a& ^; ]公仔箱論壇"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."
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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."% Z% v7 ?( g$ \( C2 e- j8 b
! n+ J5 }8 @3 H: T1 P; d q9 ?tvb now,tvbnow,bttvbThe 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.
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. h( `0 P, b1 R- v! NThey 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.5.39.217.77:88989 x3 i# T& p" p- w
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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.4 J$ M7 u+ x8 d
, ~7 d3 {1 t+ E2 Q1 U0 o5.39.217.77:8898The Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.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。3 x3 U8 |% w" Y1 B
" B. B+ q$ Y3 d: G- LFollowing 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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