Local Officials Suppress Citizen Effort to Remove Village Committee Head in Guangdong Province

October 26, 2005

Local officials have suppressed a campaign by villagers in Taishi village, Guangzhou city, to remove village committee head Chen Jinsheng, who they accuse of embezzling village funds. Despite national law guaranteeing village electoral rights, local officials have blocked recall efforts by forcing elected village representatives to resign and detaining lawyers providing legal advice to the villagers. This has resulted in clashes between villagers and police, reports the South China Morning Post in a series of articles on September 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 28.

Local officials have suppressed a campaign by villagers in Taishi village, Guangzhou city, to remove village committee head Chen Jinsheng, who they accuse of embezzling village funds. Despite national law guaranteeing village electoral rights, local officials have blocked recall efforts by forcing elected village representatives to resign and detaining lawyers providing legal advice to the villagers. This has resulted in clashes between villagers and police, reports the South China Morning Post in a series of articles on September 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 28.

In July, Taishi villagers began a campaign to remove Chen, accusing him of misusing village revenue from land sales. (For more details, see this Zoneeuropa report). Article 16 of the Organic Law on Village Committees allows the holding of a recall referendum for a village committee member if 20 percent of the eligible voters submit a petition requesting such a recall. In Taishi, local activists obtained over 400 signatures out of 1,400 eligible voters, despite repressive government measures that included the arrest of protest leaders. On September 16, villagers elected seven village residents as members of a commission to manage the recall process, defeating government-selected candidates.

Since mid-September, local officials have intervened to block the recall of Chen Jinsheng. The seven popularly elected members of the recall committee have resigned since September 15, some citing official pressure. News media reports suggest that similar pressure may have prompted a late September petition signed by some 1,000 Taishi residents asking that the recall proceedings be suspended. On September 12, township public security officers seeking to remove village financial documents from government offices clashed with and arrested dozens of residents. Police also arrested legal activist Guo Feixiong, who had been advising villagers of their legal rights. A September 14 editorial published on the People's Daily Web site supported the villagers' recall effort, which suggests that local government officials may be defying central government guidance.

Unelected Chinese township and Party officials often oppose citizen efforts to use village election rules to select their own representatives. (For more information, see the CECC's Roundtable on Village Elections in China.)