Villagers Given Right to Nominate Candidates in Election

China News Digest, 26 April 2002

[CND, 04/26/02] Villagers participating in this year's election of village committees in Guangzhou will be able to nominate their own candidates instead of voting candidates picked by local Communist Party branches, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

The democratic rights enjoyed by villagers have gone a step further, the newspaper quoted the head of the city's Civil Affairs Bureau LI Weijie. All of the 1,161 villages in Guangzhou have held or will be holding direction elections this year, compared to 800 in 1999. Mr. Li estimated that more than 2.3 million villagers would vote during the next three months.

According to regulations passed by the Provincial Communist Party Committee and Government in January, villagers nominate candidates for village head through secret ballot before the election. Two candidates receiving the most nominations will enter the official election. Any candidate receiving more than 50 percent of nominations will be automatically elected.

Voter turnout reached 98 percent with more than 20,000 villagers voted in 11 elections in Tianhe district, Mr. Li said.

During the rapid development in Guangzhou over the past 20 years, many rural villages find themselves now in metropolitan setting. However, these so-called villages in the city are still treated as distinct administrative entities by local government.

Since the village land is jointly owned by its residents due to historic events such as the People Commune drive in 1958, proceeds through leasing village land to commercial operations are distributed among villagers. In some villages, the annual income from the land leasing may amount to tens of thousands of yuan per person. The high voter turnout can be attributed to the fact that the village committees manage these lucrative business ventures and voters are choosing their own money managers. (LIU Weiming)