NANJING, January 7 (Xinhuanet) -- On election day in a village in
Jiangsu Province, hundreds of residents gathered in a spacious
auditorium to hear instructions on voting for township deputies.  
   Ballots were distributed, marked by voters, and stuffed in a
red ballot box. While the crowd waited for the tallies, village
school teachers and students entertained them with songs and
dances.
   It's a typical scene during the ongoing election of deputies to
the township people's congress in East China's Jiangsu Province --
and in 40,000 other towns across China. Most of the township
deputies in China completed their three-year term this year.
   In the economically developed regions of East China, where
direct election of people's deputies to township congress and
village heads have been held for 10 to 20 years, election
procedures and organizational work were orderly and in line with
the law.
   Yaogou Village, in Danyang City of Jiangsu, held its election
in the large meeting room of a village business where voters chose
two deputies for the township people's congress.
   The election campaign began three months ago, with villagers
recommending 13 candidates. According to the election rules, every
ten voters may recommend a candidate in the primary stage of the
election. 

   To ensure a quick and smooth voting, election organizers
consulted villagers on their preferences, and based on public
opinion, they chose three "formal candidates" for the election.
   "I'm grateful to my fellow villagers' confidence in me," said a
delighted Gu Huajun, one of the three formal candidates. "If
elected, I will spend more time studying the laws for the
protection of villagers' rights."
   "People's deputies are servants of the people," said the 24-
year-old Gu, a section chief of the village business, explaining
that he is running for the deputy position "to serve the village
and the community."
   Unfortunately, he was defeated by two incumbent deputies who
were running for re-election, one a village head, another a female
village official in charge of women's issues and family planning
work. The village head promised in his election campaign that he
would ask the township congress to pave a road for the village.
   But no election passes without a hitch. At the start of the
Yaogou village election, one villager discovered he was not
included on the list of eligible voters, and subsequently ripped
the election poster down in protest. But the situation was righted
when authorities realized the man's name was absent because he had
temporarily moved out of the village, then returned without
informing village officials. Election officials then had to add
his name to the voter list and publicize the name-list to prevent
future mishaps.  

   In the neighboring city of Zhangjiagang, many election halls
are equipped with enclosed voting booths to ensure voters' privacy.
For convenience of voters who have to work and cannot get to the
voting venue, electorate staff take a ballot box to them to
collect votes.
   Of the three formal candidates in the 27th Electorate of
Yangshe Town of Zhangjiagang City, only one is a Communist Party
member. Another, Huang Yongfa, is from the China Democratic League,
one of the eight non-communist parties in China. 
   Huang, a math teacher, said that he will promote use of
multimedia in primary and middle schools.
   To ensure full representativeness of people's deputies, Jiangsu
Province proposed that the Communist Party committees should not
recommend more than 15 percent of the candidates, and more than 35
percent of them must be non-communists.
   According to Wang Shihu, an official with the Legislative
Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress Standing
Committee, direct elections of township people's deputies and
village heads are two pillars of grassroots democracy in China.
   He quoted late top legislator Peng Zhen as saying more than 10
years ago that direct elections are training grounds for millions
of villagers. "Based on the election work I saw, I think these
training classes are having an effect," Wang said.
   A total of 700 million to 800 million people will take part in
the current village elections, which started in mid-2001 and will
conclude at the end of this year, he noted.   Enditem