ĦĦĦĦHOHHOT, Oct. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The morning light was spread over the dunes and
onto a 51 year-old herdswoman Li Meiying when she left for Badain Jaran village
where an election was being held.
ĦĦĦĦTo get to the village to cast her vote, Li had a walk of 50 kilometers or a
two day mule-ride deep into Badain Jaran Shamo, the world's fourth largest
desert.
ĦĦĦĦBadain Jaran is home to 102 people, the families of 38 herdsmanwho are
scattered throughout a 3,000-square-kilometer desert. The people gathered there
late September to elect their deputies to Yabrai Town's Seventh People's
Congress, a local legislature in Alxa Right Banner of northern China's Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region.
ĦĦĦĦOver half of the voters had spent two days walking through the desert like
Li before arriving at the site for village gathering.
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ĦĦĦĦ"You don't meet a single person on the way and hear only the howl of the
wolf when you sleep in the desert at night, " Li said.
ĦĦĦĦ"My problem was not the wolves because I had firecrackers in mypockets to
scare them away," explained the 1.6-meter tall and 80-kilogram herdswoman. "My
problem was getting on my mule. It's hardfor me to do that and I had to struggle
several times."
ĦĦĦĦThe meeting place is beside a little salt lake called Miaohaizi,where three
village families are living. The only buildings are five rows of bungalows and a
lamasery with the history of over 100years.
ĦĦĦĦThe election was held in one of the bungalows, with silk banners and
certificates of merit saying "the model unit of ethnic unity" and "the model
unit of public security", hanging on the walls.
ĦĦĦĦThough the election was just in a remote ethnic minority area, it
followed the same legal procedures as an election at higher levels.
ĦĦĦĦThe election notice was in both Mongolian and Han languages andcandidates
were required to deliver their speeches in both languages, which is in
accordance with the Laws on Regional Autonomy of China's Ethnic Minority Groups.
ĦĦĦĦVoters were checked as the election began, and none of the households
missed the election day as the notice had been sent outsix months earlier.
ĦĦĦĦ"I chalked the election date on my door in case I missed it,"said
Aldanqiqig who was sitting in a corner of the venue.
ĦĦĦĦAfter the formalities were over the voters present recommendedfour
candidates for three deputies and the people to oversee the election, those to
count the ballots and those to call the ballotswere chosen.
ĦĦĦĦBallots were then distributed to voters present and to the agents of those
unable to come. In all, 89 people were eligible to vote, 45 out of whom were
present.
ĦĦĦĦ"Imagine, I traveled two days by mule just to choose capable
representatives, " said Li Meiying, who was illiterate.
ĦĦĦĦ"I know which box stands for whom, I have asked the educated and figured it
out," Li added.
ĦĦĦĦThe village were entitled to having three deputies. As there were four
candidates, one of them was doomed to be out.
ĦĦĦĦThe results of the election were announced soon, showing that village head
Aoqir was defeated by the other three candidates.
ĦĦĦĦ"I feel a bit frustrated. It seems that I must do more things for the
herdsman in the future," said Aoqir.
ĦĦĦĦAmong the elected, 48-year-old Jihuleng is the only one withouta government
position.
ĦĦĦĦ"Jihuleng is well educated. He often speaks out for us and cares about the
public affairs of the village," said one voter called Haswulichi. Enditem
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