Bribery is widespread in China's village elections and elected officials often try to recover their election expenses through illegal land appropriation, state media reported Monday. "Election-related bribery is rampant due to the low cost of bribery and lack of relevant laws to curb such illegal activities," Xinhua news agency reported, quoting a political magazine, Outlook.
A villager in the northern region's Inner Mongolia was recently voted head of a village committee after spending 400,000 yuan (50,000 dollars) on banquets and cash hand-outs to residents in exchange for their votes, it said.
Although a government investigation was underway, the man remained in his post, the report said, without specifying when the election took place.
The article said corruption was rampant in other Chinese villages, adding that many officials who got elected through bribery would later recover their expenses by forcing villagers to give up their land for little compensation.
"Those who have been successful in the village elections have to recover their spending through taking bribes or skimping villagers," a villager was quoted as saying.
Illegal appropriation of farmland has repeatedly sparked protests across China and is increasingly recognized as a serious social problem.
Land is often seized by local officials and sold to industrialists without adequate compensation. It is then converted into either business or residential use at great profit.
Democracy is limited to village-level elections in China, despite repeated calls among rights advocates that elections should be allowed to take place among higher levels of governments.
Source: Agence France-Presse
