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.公仔箱論壇2 B6 j- ^/ U" [+ W. y  `
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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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+ p1 ]  k' e# E: }6 Y' ^' Y! P5.39.217.77:8898China - 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.. l9 H+ N" t. N4 \3 B/ a
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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.; n% l/ G0 F# ]

2 }! a/ u. h) a/ ?9 A0 F. A( x8 `6 R, W5.39.217.77:8898"The election committee is being elected to supervise next month's village election," a villager surnamed Chen told AFP by phone.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb" J7 f2 @  T) e

( _5 v+ o2 e0 Q4 x, z6 ttvb now,tvbnow,bttvb"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."
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8 R/ s: n+ Y4 U3 w0 Y; N2 C8 A公仔箱論壇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."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。) C/ t, n9 O# @6 c7 x, Z. H
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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.5.39.217.77:88980 u. k( b$ _) }3 w. H  M& E' p
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The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.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。' `" [# H8 M& @
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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.% Z# [- b* O3 x' A- M
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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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" f; C; Z" i: X9 |( DThe Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers.# s- Q/ q+ Y% z  Q4 n5 r' v, M
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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.