Wukan election
Villagers in Wukan, Guangdong Province, hailed the new village Party committee that was established yesterday after a provincial investigation team declared the previous committee election invalid and ordered a new vote in the wake of months-long protests.
Lin Zuluan, who represented the villagers in the previous protest, was appointed secretary of the village committee of the CPC.
The committee went into operation yesterday, Nanfang Daily reported, citing an official microblog of the Politics and Law Committee of Guangdong Committee of the CPC.
"Generally speaking, we are satisfied that Lin is heading the Party committee after the special investigation team dispatched by the provincial government came to the village to find out the truth and restore order," a Wukan villager surnamed Zhang said.
"I hold a positive attitude toward the new leader, as he was respected by us when we were fighting for our rights. And I hope he will not let us down and lead the village to prosperity," Zhang told the Global Times yesterday.
Noting that the investigation into an illegal land transaction - another appeal made by villagers in Wukan - is not yet finished, Zhang said he hoped the new Party committee, together with the investigation team will give them a satisfactory answer.
Petitions and protests against previous acts of electoral fraud by village heads and farmland seizure by property developers have been held by villagers in Wukan since September.
Tensions escalated in early December with residents setting up blockades preventing police from entering the village after Xue Jinbo, 42, a village representative involved in negotiations with local authorities, died in police custody.
The standoff between villagers and the local government, which drew wide media coverage both in China and abroad, only ended in late December after the provincial government stepped in to investigate.
On December 20, Wang Yang, Party chief of Guangdong Province, said that the unrest was "the result of the long neglect of social problems that have accumulated during economic and social development," and vowed to crack down on corruption.
Wukan villagers voluntarily removed the blockades two days after Wang’s remarks when Zhu Mingguo, a deputy Party chief of Guangdong Province, visited the village.