Beijing fears independent candidate, arrests democracy campaigner
Yao Lifa, a symbol of democratic political activism, was arrested together with another five independent candidates in Hubei. Released after six hours, he called on 900 million Chinese voters not to give into the Party's fraud and to use their vote.
Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) He was trying to challenge the Communist Party's dominance over local elections by presenting a civic list, a possibility allowed by law, but he was arrested. This happened yesterday in the centre-eastern province of Hubei to the famous democracy activist Yao Lifa and five of his friends.
Yao and the rest were planning to mobilize people to run in local people's congress elections. The arrests indicate the extent of state control over the situation in the counties and towns in the lead-up to the vote: Yao is considered to be a symbol of China's growing democratic movement: close to the grassroots, he managed to win a seat in the people's congress in Qianjiang city in 1999. The arrest came about as the six independent candidates from Wuhan, Qianjiang and Xiantao were having a meal in Xiantao. Yao said they were discussing their election campaigns and how to expose electoral fraud when they were arrested by plain-clothes police officers.
"The voters are indifferent to elections because they think they are manipulated. That is why we have to expose malpractice in the elections by distributing leaflets, to encourage them to participate in the process," Yao said.
Police said they carried out the arrest because they heard it was an "illegal, unauthorized gathering".
The activist added: "The authorities keep us under surveillance and used the illegal gathering accusation as an excuse to detain us, even if only for six hours." Released, the men were "escorted" to their homes by officials and police.
The latest round of elections for county and township elections that started on July 1 will run until the end of next year: 900 million voters from more than 35,400 towns and 2,800 counties will participate. Yao said: "The elections remain under the tight control of authorities, which has restricted the media to using only Xinhua in coverage of the polls."
A former primary school employee, Yao Life ran for the Qianjiang People's Congress for 13 years before he won a seat, which was taken from him in 2003 in an election that he claimed was rigged. Spurred by Yao's success, more than 40 workers ran for seats in the same area. He said "More than 100 independent candidates will run in the Qianjiang elections this year."
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