Wukan village elects deputies
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E-mail Xinhua, February 11, 2012
The villagers of Wukan in south China's Guangdong province, known for last year's protests over illegal land use and other issues, voted for deputies Saturday in the second round of democratic elections for new leadership.
Their voting will result in a team of 107 village representatives and seven group leaders.
The voting, presided over by an 11-member election committee elected on Feb. 1, lasted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at a village school.
It was not immediately clear how many people cast ballots on Saturday. But according to the election committee's Friday calculations, 7,728 villagers had registered to vote.
Wukan has about 12,000 villagers, 8,222 of whom are of legal age and are therefore entitled to vote.
Those who applied for group leader candidacy were required to get supporting signatures from at least 100 voters, while village representative candidates were required to get at least 50, according to local election procedures.
"This is to make sure the candidates are well-grounded and trusted by the villagers, and to ensure fairness in the upcoming village committee election," said Yang Semao, director of the election committee.
Villager Lin Shuzhen, who is illiterate, asked her 16-year-old son to read the election instructions for her and fill out her ballot.
Volunteers also stood by to help other illiterate villagers fill out ballots.
An open count of the votes is currently being held and the election results will be announced later on.
"The voting process was smooth and orderly," said Lin Zulian, the village's Communist Party of China (CPC) secretary. "The villagers took an active part in the voting, and they are more familiar with the procedures compared with the previous round of voting for election committee members on Feb. 1."
Lin was appointed secretary after last year's protests.
Lin and the election committee will summon the newly-elected deputies to meetings to discuss election procedures for the new village committee.
"I hope the deputies who eventually stand out will all be capable people of integrity," said Huang Deping, a villager in his 50s. "I hope they will safeguard our rights and interests and help us manage our land well."
On Sept. 21 and 22 last year, villagers in Wukan, which is administered by the city of Lufeng, began to protest against village authorities over issues related to land use, financing and the election of village officials, with large-scale protests occurring in the village on Nov. 21 and 22.
The villagers gathered again on Dec. 11 after Xue Jinbo, a man who was suspected of organizing the November demonstrations, died while in police custody.
Officials from a provincial work team in charge of handling the village's unrest conceded that the residents' major demands were reasonable and "some mistakes" had been made by local officials.
They also announced that last February's election of the former village leaders was invalid and new elections were to be organized.
The previous election drew complaints from the villagers, who complained that a list of candidates was never published and that some of the candidates were also election organizers, both of which go against local election laws and regulations.
According to this year's election procedures, the election committee will be dismissed after the new village committee is formed, although the deputies will continue to perform their duties.
Under the new village leadership, the deputies will attend village committee meetings, report the villagers' suggestions and complaints to the village committee and keep the villagers informed of decisions made at the deputies' meetings.
