Tian Rui Di, San Dong Town, Huizhou City, was summoned by the police to run for the head of Tian House Villagers Group.
A general election was held this Tuesday (2) in Tianya village, Shangdong village, Sandong town, Huizhou city, Guangdong province. According to local rights activists, Tian Rui Di, a candidate for Tian House Village who defended the villagers’ rights, was ordered by the village secretary to withdraw from the election so that the previous official group leader could be re-elected successfully. Currently, Tian Rui Di, a candidate for the villagers’ rights, has been summoned and intimidated by the police and has left Home to hide.
On the eve of the 4th session of the 13th National People’s Congress, the village chief candidate Tian Rui-di was pressured by the authorities to withdraw from the election this Tuesday, in the village of Tianya, under the jurisdiction of Shangdong Village in Sandong Township, Huizhou, Guangdong Province. In an interview with Radio Free Asia on Thursday, local human rights activist Chen Tian said that Tian Rui Di, a candidate supported by villagers, has recently been intimidated by the mob and summoned by the police: “The lady surnamed Tian is being threatened by both black and white. The local police station is trying to arrest her and she is hiding. The local government has sent numerous workers to the village to do door-to-door work, saying that they should not vote for her (Tian Rui Di), and that they (officials) have tampered with her and nullified her 50 votes. Now she and her opponent have more than seventy votes, which falls short of the 100-vote mark, and will have to vote in a few days.”
There are more than 300 people in Tin Uk village, including about 200 eligible voters. Last weekend, Tian Rui Di, deputy leader of the Tin Uk village group, published a manifesto on the website of the New Times Express for her campaign for Tin Uk village group leader. In the video, she told the village folks that on February 19, 2021, the Shangdong Village Committee held a meeting of the candidates for the Tin Uk village group general election. The village secretary Zhang Xinhua asked her to withdraw from the village group leader election: “Secretary Zhang Xinhua asked me to withdraw from the qualification of village group leader election, which is an illegal act to destroy the election system and subvert the current system of the country. He illegally disqualifies citizens from being elected.”
Left: Tian Rui Di refers to her deprivation of her right to be an elector. Right: There are more than 300 people in Tianya Village, and the villagers are mainly engaged in farming. (Video screenshot)
Candidates accuse the official group leader of selfishness and fraud
Tian Rui Di said in the video that Tian Xin Wu, the current group leader of Tian House Village, has been the group leader for many years, but there is no openness in village affairs according to the law, and he alone has the say in everything, so villagers have no way to understand the income status and expenses of the village. In terms of compensation for land requisition and demolition, Tian Xinwu and individual village cadres operated in secret, not allowing other village cadres and villagers to understand the real situation of compensation for land requisition, and only Tian Xinwu and Tian Yucai were compensated for the demolition of illegal structures, while all other villagers did not receive any compensation. The village’s more than 1,000 mu of mountain land was illegally appropriated, resulting in the villagers losing more than 10 million yuan in mountain rent.
Tian Ruiti’s husband Tian Xinhua said in an interview with the station on Thursday that his wife had left home and gone into hiding the day before yesterday due to intimidation and police summons blackmail, and was currently unreachable: “The secretary inside the village wanted her to withdraw from the election, the public security and municipal government people came down, those cadres did not allow others to elect my wife, and my wife became defiant and went into hiding.”
Tian Rui Di said that the former group leader Tian Xin Wu refused to issue a power of attorney for the proxy lawyer without regard to the interests of the villagers, resulting in the villagers’ loss of more than 10 million mountain rent money that could not be recovered. (Video screenshot)
Authorities forced to open the ballot before the voting was completed
Almost all the villagers in Tin Uk village are surnamed Tian. Mr. Tian, a villager, told the station on Thursday that the authorities opened the ballots early before the election was over on Tuesday: “We are here to vote in the election on the 2nd, and on the 3rd, the police station, the security guards came, the world did not do this, the election day at 2 p.m. to check the votes, we the masses could not approach the big screen in the big room, the police blocked the door and were not allowed to enter. Previously, voting day can enter.”
According to the villagers, Huizhou City, Huailong quarry investment of tens of millions of yuan, the local construction of the quarry, due to the encroachment and destruction of the black forces, was forced to stop production, and so far can not resume production. However, Hualong Quarry and its partners continue to pay the villagers’ group in Tinya the mountain rent every year, which has reached more than 6 million yuan so far. The villagers get more than 20,000 yuan per capita.
We called Zhang Xinhua, the village secretary, and Tian Xinwu, the village group leader, but they both went unanswered.
Fraudulent practices, such as vote buying and obstruction of rights-bearing villagers from running for office, are often uncovered in China’s rural grassroots elections, and in most areas, village chiefs are run by candidates appointed by the township government.
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