Rare Campaign Vehicle Hits Road in Rural China Election

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 29, 2003

Rare Campaign Vehicle Hits Road in Rural China Election

A Chinese farmer created a sensation earlier this month when he ran for a village-level post using a political promotion truck, something rarely seen in China, if at all.

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A Chinese farmer created a sensation earlier this month when he ran for a village-level post using a political promotion truck, something rarely seen in China, if at all.

With a loudspeaker and huge picture of Liao Huaixin, the campaigner, and banners calling for support plus an open and fair election, the truck carrying smiling Liao swept across Longtan Village in Beimen Township in the rural part of Shangrao city in Jiangxi province, east China.

Liao gained 740 of 1,724 votes and was elected member of the village committee. He is now one of two villagers eligible for theposition of deputy head of the village committee, an executive body.

Under the laws and regulations, the head and members of a village committee are elected through a general election, but the position of deputy head and other committee posts are decided later by the local township government with reference to their number of votes.

A township spokesman told Xinhua Wednesday the township government was in the process of choosing one from the two candidates for the deputy head position.

Liao, 39, who has run a leather shoe production plant for a decade, is noted as a capable man in the village. During his campaign, he promised if elected to improve the village infrastructure, involving a water system, and power and road projects.

"I was surprised that my campaign truck caused such enormous attention. I thought it was nothing special," Liao told Xinhua.

He said he knew political promotion trucks were common in some foreign countries as reported by State-run television stations.

To his astonishment, he said his campaign truck became a focal point of attention for the whole village when it appeared, and triggered heated debate among experts and local legislators, thanks to provincial and national newspaper reports with photos.

Liao Xinying, deputy secretary of the village branch of the Communist Party of China, voiced his support for the use of the truck.

"He promised to do something for his fellow villagers and he ran a positive campaign, never said anything negative about his rival."

Liao Rizhong, a villager in his 50s, said he was impressed by the novel campaign. "It's efficient, he didn't have to lobby for support door by door. I think it's good."

However, some think otherwise, saying the use of the truck is unnecessary. "It's simply a way of propaganda, a little bit exaggerating," said a villager asking not to be named.

Zhu Kaiyang, vice-director of the Legal Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress, the provincial legislature, held that the farmer's campaign was reasonable. Farmers in China were increasingly enthusiastic about democracyand the rule of law in the country, Zhu said. "It is a great thingfor them to get involved in the process."

Wang Jinhua, an official in charge of grass-roots election affairs with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said a growing number of villagers who had prospered were getting involved in local elections.

Citing official figures, he said that in Yiwu city in east China's affluent Zhejiang province, elections have been held in nearly half its 762 villages.

Meanwhile, villagers who have prospered through running their own businesses accounted for about 60 percent of those elected.

Generally speaking, those elected had not abused their power for personal gain, Wang said.

"The villagers who elected them hope the wealthier candidates use their business expertise to help the villagers prosper."

About 600 million villagers in China have been involved in village-level elections in most of China's 730,000 villages since its revised law on village committees became effective in 1998.

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