04.03.2012
Residents of a southern Chinese village on Saturday elected a reformist leader to run a new administrative authority that many hail as a model for greater grassroots democracy following an uncompromising standoff over land grabs and abuse of power. The fishing village of Wukan, nestled on the Guangdong coast with a picturesque harbour flanked by hills, has emerged from nowhere as a symbol of rural activism and electoral reforms nationwide, embracing rare freedoms granted by provincial authorities in December to defuse a major flashpoint.
Spilling into a school festooned with red banners, some 6,800 residents queued to cast pink ballots in seven metal election boxes, backing many former protest leaders, including those jailed in September, for a seven-person village committee.
Lin Zuluan, a respected village elder and a chief organiser of the civil movement in Wukan against corrupt authorities won 6205 votes in a landslide victory for village chief, reflecting confidence in his ability to win back illegally sold farmland.
"With this kind of recognition from the villagers, I'll work doubly hard for them," he said after addressing a cheering crowd and journalists gathered at night to hear the final results, with a turnout of nearly 80%.
Another protest leader Yang Semao was elected deputy village chief, while the five other seats will be filled in a run-off on Sunday that many expect to see a new guard of activists and reformists secure majority control of the committee under Lin.
The polls were wrought after a months-long struggle that saw villagers clash with riot police, ransack government offices, expel a corrupt old guard and form a self-administrative authority. It all came to a head in December, when villagers barricaded themselves in against riot police.
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