Alarmed at the cases of buying votes and official manipulation
in village elections in certain areas, some Chinese lawmakers have
called for amending the country 's rural election law and even the
Criminal Law to guarantee "true democracy" in the countryside.
"In some villages, candidates spend more than 100,000 yuan
(US$12, 500) or even several hundred thousand yuan campaigning for
the post of village chief, the monthly pay for which is at most
several hundred yuan," said Liu Xiguang, a deputy to the 10th
National People's Congress (NPC), the Chinese legislature in its
annual full session.
According to Liu, director of a district civil affairs bureau of
Zhangjiakou City, North China's Hebei Province, such "weird
phenomena" are not rare in villages which are located on the
junction between city and countryside or in the areas boasting rich
mineral resources.
"It's apparent that what the candidates are actually seeking is
the power to control the village's land and mineral resources,
which they can trade for cash and other personal benefits," said
Liu.
China's rapid economic growth and urbanization process have
brought about soaring demand for resources, such as coal, and land
for construction purposes.
Those village officials who have come to power through bribing
the voters are mostly "dictatorial and corrupt," said Liu.
He also slashed some local governments at the township level,
which according to law shoulder the responsibility of "providing
guidance for village elections." They were accused of either
turning a blind eye to the problems in the elections or even
"exerting influence to help their favorite candidates win the
elections."
Such malpractice of the township governments was often "driven
by interests," said Liu, whose bureau is in charge of overseeing
village elections and promoting rural democracy.
"If the township governments are not cooperating, the civil
affairs departments will have much difficulty in performing their
duty of supervision and guidance," conceded Liu.
He expressed worries that if such problems couldn't be solved in
a timely and effective manner, China's practice of rural democracy,
which has lasted for nearly two decades, will be seriously
undermined, and the country's latest campaign of " building a new
socialist countryside" will also be crippled.
Echoing Liu's views, Guo Fenglian, a female lawmaker from North
China's Shanxi Province, has warned that China must first train its
village heads in some 680,000 villages to be "honest, clean and
competent" before the "new countryside" goal can be attained.
"The key to building a more developed, civilized and democratic
countryside lies in the competence as well as personal integrity of
the village chiefs," the 60-year-old Guo, head of Dazhai Village,
Xiyang County of Shanxi, told Xinhua in an earlier interview.
According to the central government's budget plan, in 2006 alone
China will spend 339.7 billion yuan (US$42.46 billion) on rural
development. But some NPC deputies have worried that the huge funds
might be misused or intercepted by officials at various levels
before reaching the farmers.
Liu, the NPC deputy from Hebei, suggested that the existing law
on the organization of villagers' committees, which guides the
rural elections, be amended to further standardize election
procedures and better guarantee the "democratic management of
village affairs" following the elections.
Zhu Huiqiu, another NPC deputy, also submitted a motion to the
ongoing NPC session, calling for adding a new article into the
country's Criminal Law, to make "sabotaging village elections" a
crime.
In 1988, China granted farmers the right to directly elect or
oust their village heads and members of the villagers' committees,
launching a democratic process which is designed to usher in a "
complete self-governance" of the countryside.
Statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs show that by the
end of 2004, more than 700 million Chinese farmers have cast votes
in several rounds of village leadership elections.
(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2006)