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.- T$ P4 w. e% t8 p( _
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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.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。+ ^& q+ z. y( {2 m( d5 d
+ e+ C+ D& z7 [* X6 f$ A1 \www2.tvboxnow.comChina - 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.
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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.
4 M- u/ i- x6 ?: ?& KTVBNOW 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。6 g! Y. U3 o2 G- C
But on Wednesday they were due to openly select an independent election committee that would supervise their first democratic village poll due next month.3 H8 @( c# f9 Y/ A. d( e
! I4 l& o- I% |3 k% j$ `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。"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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7 {6 s( R+ v3 ~. b- O/ Y& o5 }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。"Wukan has never held village elections, this will be the first ever democratic election in Wukan."
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5 T2 V! q( f) p( w% I! m0 K# m3 swww2.tvboxnow.comZhang Jianxing, a villager close to the local government, added Wednesday's vote was "part of the process to hold open, transparent and fair elections."- Q2 r$ v1 q! i# K( f: i$ Y
# M! A8 v& B- S( f& j+ y) z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.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb% V2 T5 W# } ]: F4 a; [ d' v h
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The concessions won by Wukan residents are seen as a rare victory for protesters in authoritarian China.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb4 \: f0 J: n& c, p- J6 H7 d
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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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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.2 r. ~9 k, r/ P6 {
/ R# X: j# w$ ^8 ^4 l- m) `0 nThe Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated as their case made headlines, and decided to intervene on behalf of the villagers., o% G% L( R* Z
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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. |
發表於 2012-2-2 08:35 AM
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