First Neighborhood Committee Elected in XinjiangResidents in the No.3 Electorate in the New District of urban Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, elected director of their neighborhood committee recently, representing a reform of grassroots units in urban districts.This was the first election of a community head by local residents themselves in the northwest China region. The newly-elect was Ren Yulan, a 30-year-old construction worker. She will be in charge of routine community work, property management, cultural activities and environment improvement China now has more than 117,000 neighborhood committees made up of urban residents. They play an important role in China's political, economic, cultural and social affairs as well as in people's daily life in areas. Election has replaced appointment in the formation of neighborhood committee in recently years. Residents elect by secret ballot directors, deputy directors and members of neighborhood committees, and the election procedure is being standardized. Direct election of the villagers' committees began in the late 1980s, and has been regarded as a major step taken by the Chinese government to promote democratic politics at the grassroots level. Village elections now spread to every Chinese provinces with South China's Guangdong Province as the last one to introduce elections for village heads. |
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