While China is making efforts to promote village democracy, some
voters were found being bribed in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
According to the Beijing-based weekly magazine Outlook,
Yun Lianchang was elected head of the village committee in Qian
Baimiao Village of Jinhe Town after spending a staggering 400,000
yuan (US$50,000) laying on banquets for villagers and paying them
sums of cash.
He defeated his only rival Qiao Yumei, who reportedly spent
260,000 yuan (US$32,500) for the same purpose, the loser even
having the gall of asking the villagers for her money back once
learning of her defeat.
"My wife and I received a total of 2,400 yuan (US$300) from both
candidates," villager Zhang Yue told the magazine. "Candidates also
canvassed voters by serving them meals in restaurants," he
added.
An investigation led by the Hohhot local government and people's
congress is now underway but so far Yun Liancheng remains in his
new post. This may be only temporary since according to Chinese
law, elections marred by bribery are void.
Qiao Yumei defended her bribery efforts by claiming that
"someone used bribery to beat his rival in the previous election
and held the position for the past three years without being
punished."
The investigation by Outlook uncovered similar
activities in other villages in the Jinhe and Xibashan
Townships.
The amount of money spent on being elected was higher in the
villages closest to the city. "Those who want a more prestigious
position have to pay more. The more money a candidate spends, the
more votes he gets," said one villager on condition of
anonymity.
"Many villagers enjoyed the election days. After all, they were
being given free meals and cash," he said.
The average annual income of a village official is no more than
10,000 yuan (US$1,250) in Inner Mongolia. Once elected, village
officials are sometimes able to recover the election expenditure
through land deals and infrastructure projects, the magazine quoted
a villager as saying.
Land prices on the outskirts of Hohhot, the regional capital of
Inner Mongolia, are soaring due to the city's urgent need of land
for urban development, to cope with growing population and
industries.
"The expropriation of land by the government results in huge
sums of compensation being granted to the village committee," said
a villager named Li Baoming. "But I have no idea where the
compensation money has gone, since I have received nothing from the
village committee."
In Xiaoyi City, Shanxi Province, the local government has
failed to supervise the activities of village officials who have
the final say on village budgets. These local village committees
lack transparency and democracy, the magazine quoted Xue Houhua, a
local official, as saying.
Furthermore, those who are successful in village elections need
to recover their large spending through bribe-taking or skimping
villagers, Qiao Wangwang, a villager in Qian Luojiaying Village,
Xiaoyi, said.
Election-related bribery is rampant due to the high
cost-effectiveness of bribery and lack of relevant laws and
supervision to curb such illegal activities, the Outlook
magazine cited law experts as saying.?
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2006)