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China County Trying New Election for Township Leaders
Xincai County in central China's Henan province took the lead in adopting a new election system to choose township leaders, first ever in China.
"The result proved very satisfactory," said Xu Qingyun, secretary of the county committee of the Communist Party of China. Local residents above 18 years old nominate three primary candidates, one of whom will then be selected as the final candidate by villager representatives. Finally, the township people's congress will vote for the candidate strictly according to law, Xu said.
In order to win voters' trust, the candidates must make public speeches to elaborate on their administration plans and promise a clean government. Then the villagers vote on the spot and the result is announced immediately.
Tong Xiaoqian, who had been working for the county's family planning for 10 years, was elected as township leader through the abovementioned election procedures. He was chosen as a candidate by villagers, winning 50.2 per cent of votes.
When talking about the election, Tong said, "I am elected by the people, so I must do my best to serve the people. My words and actions are all under public scrutiny, so I won't relax myself."
Different from before, the new election system fully reflects people's will and highly respect voters' right, and more, it can help avoid malpractice in selecting officials, Xu said.
According to China's common practice, township leader nominees are selected by the superior organizations.
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