Guangdong govt vows to improve organization at grassroots level

Authorities in Guangdong province will issue a designated plan in the second half of the year to improve village-level organization and management, a top local Party official said.

"We will hold a province-wide meeting later this year, based on the experience and lessons we have learned from the Wukan issue," said Wang Yang, Party chief of Guangdong.

Residents of Wukan, a fishing village in the eastern part of Guangdong, went to the polls to elect a new village committee on Saturday, several months after staging massive protests over illegal land sales and other issues.

"The Wukan issue has given us a rare opportunity to think carefully about the past mode of management and organization in grassroots democracy," Wang told reporters during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, which opened on Monday.

The poll in Wukan, which consisted of three stages, including the selection of an 11-member election board, 109 village representatives and a new village committee, was operated in accordance with the related provincial and village-level electoral laws, Wang said.

"We attached great importance to implementing the electoral laws, and villagers who participated in the election showed great concern for details in the procedure," Wang added.

Wang said the fundamental point needed to solve the Wukan issue rested on a basic theory to protect most residents' rights.

"After the initial investigation, we found that appeals by residents in the village were reasonable. We must be responsible and take measures to protect rights of villagers, not a small group of local officials," Wang said.

Wang said the provincial authorities will step up efforts to deepen reform by reducing the power of interest groups.