Rebel China village takes first step in democratic vote

kimmi8k

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.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。. B* Q2 A- ~: A8 z% Q2 @/ E& V( u
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。- R* j9 l# T2 H; P* z) e% b
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.公仔箱論壇0 O" a$ I6 P( {' X. p  j

4 X% T) A* g6 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。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.
9 L2 x# N" \) Y3 Q* h) X; N2 H/ Q
7 t& N4 c! f/ Y0 U: HBut 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.$ D0 H& _+ A) p. ^) Q

# ^$ S8 v# x0 `( r8 I' g) K' X3 v3 ktvb now,tvbnow,bttvbBut on Wednesday they were due to openly select an independent election committee that would supervise their first democratic village poll due next month.
: a. j' F! k3 i; d. z
0 H4 ~. I: C& @* P"The election committee is being elected to supervise next month's village election," a villager surnamed Chen told AFP by phone.
: ^5 E5 Z; R. C! |" O! O公仔箱論壇
/ k3 Z' K8 g! B6 q& G"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."
* [$ _6 A/ e" ^5 w+ P$ v公仔箱論壇
* j# j* u! V, c: |- S0 G8 r$ H. B5.39.217.77:8898Zhang Jianxing, a villager close to the local government, added Wednesday's vote was "part of the process to hold open, transparent and fair elections."
4 G" q! g, U+ X7 P- c) l公仔箱論壇公仔箱論壇; Q" \6 w1 x- c$ Y0 F+ C! @. o
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.3 c+ m  r( [3 n3 z" |5 A: C

; }- G% n5 n+ R4 C1 n) g* s, J5.39.217.77:8898The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.
, d# j& a+ B2 e) T" p) F2 r7 n公仔箱論壇
6 |! T) f( C: h8 K# W& D" YThey 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.( l: D  r) W/ {, H, H- l$ z
公仔箱論壇  k8 R% S6 `% T2 ]/ A
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.
# \9 D/ n. h! x9 C+ j' l: p7 P5 H, m8 P9 @( r. g$ B
The 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。" p* z+ g% K% W0 Z
1 n2 `# K+ a9 S
Following investigations into corruption, the government conceded that villagers' grievances were reasonable and that closed elections for village leaders last year were invalid.