A former village committee director in Shanxi province was shot dead on Wednesday, local government officials said Thursday.

The Hong Kong-based Takungpao reported 40-year-old Liu Jianjun of Zhongyang county, was shot dead while asleep at home. The culprit is suspected to have gained entry to his home by breaking a window.

The head of the local police's criminal investigation team, surnamed Li, told China Daily Thursday: "We received an anonymous call that the murder had something to do with new village elections. We cannot confirm if that is true as investigations are still underway."

New elections in the province's more than 31,000 villages started on Nov 11 and will last until Jan 10.

Last Friday, a Party secretary in Beizhang village, Shanxi was dismissed from his post for giving every villager 35,000 yuan (US$5,000) as a "welfare fee".

A team of law enforcement officers has also been sent to Xihuo town to maintain order during the elections, Takungpao said.

The government was quoted by the newspaper as saying elections last year were disrupted by a series of incidents including allegations of corruption, and the smashing of ballot-boxes.

"The stationing of the law enforcement officers is to protect voters and the electoral process, but it also reflects the problems and conflicts that occur in grassroots elections," Tong Zhihui, a professor at the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Renmin University of China, said.

Ministry of Civil Affairs (MAC) figures show that by the end of last year, 623,690 villages across China had elected village committees, accounting for 99.5 percent of the total.

However, corruption had marred some of the elections. The MAC estimated that 3 percent of the rural votes were bought.

"The major cause of chaos in these village elections is due to the fierce competition," Tong said.

"The title of village committee director means big power, hence the fierce competition.

"If the powers of a village committee director could be curtailed more effectively, there would be less profit-oriented competitors, and cleaner elections," he said.

(China Daily December 12, 2008)